August tops attack list

The number of hacks, breaches and threats worldwide last month was record-breaking - and a clear indication that businesses are still not doing enough to safeguard themselves against cybercriminals.

itgovernance.co.uk published a list of attacks on their website and claimed August’s list of cyberattacks to be the most lengthy it has seen in a long time.

According to Dimitri Fousekis, Security Analyst and Team Lead at Telspace Systems, “We at Telspace are not surprised at the surge of cyberattacks in August. Cybercrime is increasing exponentially, and even though a large majority of the attacks culminated overseas, South Africa is far from immune.”

Fousekis says the escalating number of cyberthreats will only start to decrease once there is enough awareness. “Sure, people know what cybercrime is, and have read about the devastating effects it may have on a company. But it is only after business decision-makers understand how cybercrime can cripple the very foundation of their own operations, and realise that security is a business enabler, will they start to see the urgency of having a strong security framework in place.” 

According to the website, some of the more prominent cyberattacks for August, included:

Data Breaches:

Records of 25,000 Homeland Security Employees Stolen in Cyber Attack

Over 50 UPS franchises hit by data breach

4.5 Million Records Stolen from US Health Giant

Supervalu supermarket chain investigating data breach

Goodwill and FBI Investigate Possible Security Breach

Kim and his 2 billion won: Massive data breach affects half of South Korean citizens

Russian hackers steal 4.5 billion records

Hackers Steal Passwords of MeetMe Social Network Users

Chinese Hackers Allegedly Steal 4.5 Million Patient Records

Jersey City Medical Center reports Medicaid patient breach

Florida bank notifies roughly 72,500 customers of breach

Insider breach at Las Vegas brain and spine surgery center

Los Angeles-based health system breached; more than 500 patients affected

Subcontractor breach impacts more than 60K Tennessee workers

East Midlands Ambulance Service patient records disk ‘missing’

Payment Information:

POS malware infections at two OTTO pizzeria locations in Maine

Payment cards used on Wireless Emporium website compromised by malware

Albertson’s stores hacked for credit card data

Black Market Cannabis Road Hacked, $100,000 in Bitcoin Lost

FBI Probes Possible Hacking Incident at J.P. Morgan

Social Media:

Microsoft and Sony’s Twitch Accounts Were Hacked And Vandalized

Russian PM’s Twitter hacked, posting ‘I resign’

DDoS:

Massive 300Gbps DDoS attack on media firm fuelled by unpatched server flaw

Twitch hit with DDOS attack

Sony suffer DDoS attack and threat forces executives’ flight to make unscheduled landing

Teenager hacked into Metropolitan Police’s computer – causing force’s website to crash

Other:

Saudi TV website hacked by Libyan

Norwegian oil industry under attack by hackers

Android apps riddled with security vulnerabilities

US Cyber Crime Goes Nuclear: NRC Computers Hacked THREE Times

Ferguson police officers computers hacked, FBI investigating

From the above list it is evident that cybercrime is a reality and only set to increase - if businesses let it. It is the responsibility of every organisation to ensure that they are well protected from threats and cybercriminal activity. Practicing ignorance and maintaining a “it won’t happen to me” attitude is no longer acceptable in today’s ever-increasing threat landscape.