NLB Blog

When you think about cyber threats, what comes to mind? An extortionist announcing your doom with a dark monitor and a laughing skull? State-sponsored cyber-warriors working from a secure command post? President Trump’s certain, “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds?” Chances are good, your version of cyber risk involves one of the above “types” hunched over a keyboard deploying massively sophisticated malware on the networks of unsuspecting businesses and government agencies. Think again. Forget megabreaches. We’ve entered the gigabreach era. The personal data of entire nations is up for grabs–literally: Ecuador, Bulgaria. And the threat is not only coming from external sources. There are smaller things to worry about, and they are in your office right now.

The personal data of more than 752,000 applicants filed to obtain copies of birth and death certificates was found on an unprotected Amazon Web Services database. The leaked data has been tracked back to a company that provides the online request forms for copies of birth and death certificates to state governments. States contracting with the company include California, New York, and Texas. The publicly available data includes names, mailing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, family information, and birth dates.

Hackers have compromised Ring security cameras, which in theory could allow third parties video and audio access to millions of homes. There have been several recent incidents of hackers gaining access to Ring cameras in the United States. These cyber intrusions include harassment of residents with racial slurs via the camera’s built-in speaker, bitcoin ransom demands and inappropriate communication with children.