Security News Update for December 27, 2024
Feds Sue JPMorgan, Wells, BofA Over Zelle Fraud
Given the administration is changing next month and the new administration is not fond of rules that negatively impact business, I don’t know if this lawsuit will go anywhere, but the complaint said it took Zelle years to respond at all to Zelle fraud and in most cases, they denied relief. The CFPB says consumes lost (at least the documented part, so the number is probably larger) over $870 million in the last seven years. The republicans would like to abolish the CFPB completely, but that would take an act of Congress. Would Congress critters face voter backlash over such an act? Not clear. Still, the ball has started rolling. Credit: MSN
Billionaire is Interested in Buying TikTok
The president-elect seems to have forgotten the national security concerns he, himself, had when he signed an executive order, which was overturned, trying to force the original sale. Now he seems to like the platform that competes with the one he owns. In light of the January 19th deadline, billionaire US business Frank McCourt says he is interested in buying TikTok. McCourt, the former owner of the LA Dodgers, says he would buy it without the algorithm. He says he wants to completely change the business model so that people (sure!) could earn money from allowing him to sell their data. Stay tuned and get your popcorn out. This is a high stakes game of chicken and it is unclear what China might do. Credit: CyberNews
Ninth Telecom Carrier Added to Breached List
The White House admitted today that a ninth telecom carrier was breached by the Chinese. This is addition to the eight carriers already announced as compromised, including Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. They are not saying who the carrier is, but if I am reading things correctly, they did not know they had been breached until the government helped them discover the breach. The White House did say that the Chinese are continuing to attack us. Credit: The Register
General Dynamics Employees Phished; Compromised Benefits Portal
The good news is that GD detected the breach quickly and as a result only a small number of employees information was compromise. The bad news is that these employees fell for a phishing scam and as a result their benefits portal at Fidelity was compromised. In some cases, bank account information was changed. This means that GD’s anti-phishing training was not up to the task and people did not realize they were being phished. If you need help with your anti-phishing training, please contact us. Credit: Security Week
Texas Going After Data Brokers for Not Registering
Data broker registries are now operative in four states but many do not register, a fact which makes it difficult for authorities to track their business practices and alert consumers to their operations. Fines are between $100 and $200 a day for failing to register. The problem is that finding the offenders is like a game of whack a mole – it is a very labor intensive, manual process. There are 519 brokers registered in California but only 217 in Texas. There are 467 registered in Vermont. Likely there are hundreds more, maybe thousands. Finding them and forcing them to register is the hard part. Texas sent warning notices to six brokers. Out of hundreds or maybe thousands. Credit: The Register
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