Malware

While Bitcoin’s value continues to swing wildly from one year to the next, its influence on the financial markets is being matched by its impact on the black market. Rising maturity and acceptance of cryptocurrency by the general public is being partly blamed for the simultaneous evolution of ransomware, with new strains and sophisticated techniques being reported. Cyber criminals are no longer taking a broad, ‘scatter-gun’ approach to ransom-based malware, but are using more targeted…

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants Inc. notified its customers that about 15% of its restaurants in 20 states may have had data exposures possibly starting back into 2015, and some lasting until about mid-April this year. The company operates and franchises nearly 900 restaurants. See Related: “Cyber Attack Takes Weather Channel Offline” The data security issue included nine locations in the Tampa area (where the parent company is based) and two in the Orlando area, where payment…

Cyber security researcher Check Point has warned Android users in a blog on July 10, 2019, that as many as 25 million Android mobile devices have been hit with a malware now being called ‘Agent Smith.’ The malware hides within installed apps like WhatsApp, taking advantage of the vulnerabilities within the Android operating system. See Related: “Securing The Enterprise From Mobile Malware” According to Check Point, this new breed of malware was able to copy…

Another week and another data breach from retail point-of-sale (POS) transaction machines. This time, retail store customers of Russell Stover’s Chocolates who used a payment card between February 9 and August 7 of this year could have had their payment card information captured by machines that were infected by malware. The company disclosed the breach this week after notifying authorities and launching its own investigation into the threat. Organization: Russell Stover Chocolates Timeframe of Breach:…

Apple’s iPhones enjoy a reputation for being ultra-secure and hard to hack, so most cybercriminals do not bother trying. However, you should not think of your iPhone as a device that is totally safe from hackers. In February, a team of researchers at Google alerted Apple to vulnerabilities that persisted for two years and allowed hackers to embed malware on iPhones after people visited particular websites. Here are a few questions that this article answers:…

Midwestern U.S. retailer Hy-Vee disclosed investigation findings this week from a data breach announced in mid-August impacting millions of customers utilizing its food and service point-of-sale (PoS) transaction machines. The investigation identified the operation of malware designed to access payment card data from cards used on PoS devices at certain Hy-Vee fuel pumps, drive-thru coffee shops, and restaurants (which include the company’s Hy-Vee Market Grilles, Hy-Vee Market Grille Expresses and the Wahlburgers locations that Hy-Vee…

A trio of retailers disclosed payment card incidents this week resulting in data breaches. Bad actors are infecting point-of-sale (POS) terminals with malware. The malware captures payment card information before it enters the transaction processing system. POS Malware: Wawa Convenience and Fuel Retailer Retail chain Wawa disclosed that it had discovered malware on its payment processing servers earlier this month. An external forensics team determined that the malware began running at different points in time…