Meta pays $725M to settle Cambridge Analytica case / Piers Morgan's Twitter gets hacked / North Korean hackers breach South Korean foreign policy experts

Plus: 9.8 CVSS WordPress security flaw tracked

Inside.com Part of   Network December 27, 2022

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Meta has agreed to pay $725M to settle the Cambridge Analytica data leak case. The lawsuit has been ongoing since 2018 and has had severe consequences for the special media giant's reputation regarding privacy. More: The lawsuit claimed that Facebook allowed third-party apps used by Cambridge Analytica to access users' personal information without their consent for political advertising. The data leak was first reported in 2018. The way this data was extracted was through a personality quiz app called "thisisyourdigitallife," which collected users' public profiles, page likes, dates of birth, genders, locations, and even messages to build their psychographic profiles. The app was used only by 30,000 users, but the dataset was found to contain information on 87 million Facebook users. This campaign was infamously involved in the 2016 presidential elections and became the center of discussion regarding the manipulation of the U.S. voter base by Russia. Cambridge Analytica has since declared bankruptcy and is now defunct.

Piers Morgan's Twitter account was hacked yesterday as breachers tweeted offensive content from his account. Twitter deleted all of his posts since the account's inception. More: The incident was first noticed by other journalists, who posted screenshots of racist tweets that were written by his account. The hackers not only posted racist tweets but also changed the account name to numerous offensive names and titles. This news was confirmed by the Instagram account of his Sky TV show, which tweeted at Elon Musk, asking him if there was any chance of getting the account back. Morgan is known for his controversial comments and has invited several guests to his show that have been deemed inappropriate by a number of pundits and media critics.

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North Korean hackers tried to breach almost 1,000 South Korean foreign policy experts in a recent hacking campaign that was tracked by researchers. The hacking campaign is believed to have had limited success for the group, breaching around 50 individuals. More: The unknown North Korean threat actor used phishing to convince individuals and companies to click on malicious links. Once the individuals clicked on the links, they were redirected to fake websites that required them to use their real login credentials. After doing so, they were asked for a $1,980 ransom.  Law authorities stated that initial reports show a low number of those that were breached but claim that it is still too early to understand the full scope of this hacking campaign and that these figures may change later on. Zoom Out: North Korean hackers have consistently targeted South Korean organizations and individuals. The country operates hacker groups that are supported by government finances and tools. It is estimated that North Korea-based hackers have stolen $1.72B worth of cryptocurrency since 2017.

Researchers have found a severe security flaw in WooCommerce's gift card premium WordPress plugins. The bug has a 9.8 CVSS ranking. More: This security flaw could allow hackers to deploy remote payloads and create a backdoor. By doing so, a threat actor could gain control over the entire website. The attacks came from hundreds of IP addresses, but only two IPs were responsible for the majority of exploitation attempts. YITH WooCommerce Gift Cards allow WordPress website administrations to create gift cards that their customers can purchase. Considering that the plugin has over 50,000 users, security researchers have recommended that users update to YITH WooCommerce Gift Cards premium version 3.20.0 or newer.

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Lazarus Group branch BlueNoroff APT has been tracked, bypassing Windows' Mark of the Web security protocols. The group uses fake domains that use the identities of companies such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and ABF Capital. More: The group is also tracked as APT38, Nickel Gladstone, and Stardust Chollima. BlueNoroff is known to breach targets in North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Like its main branch Lazarus, the group is using mainly cryptocurrency attacks. Its most known method is swapping Microsoft Word document attachments for ISO files that are sent through phishing emails. The image files contain a Microsoft PowerPoint slide show (.PPSX) and a Visual Basic Script (VBScript) that is automatically deployed into the victims' devices once they click on it.

Quick Hits: Jamf Now is helping businesses set up and secure Apple devices with no IT experience necessary. Manage up to 3 devices for free.* According to a memo that describes the attack, hackers stole data belonging to multiple electric utilities during the October ransomware attack on a U.S. government contractor, CNN reports. The financial sector was one of the most targeted verticals by hackers in 2022, leading to 254 million leaked records. A recent investigation revealed that hackers planted fake evidence in the computers of two Indian human rights activists to blame them for crimes they didn't commit. Real estate has outperformed the S&P500 (20+ years). Arrived, a Bezos-backed company, finally lets everyone take advantage of it.* *This is sponsored content.

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Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. Editor Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords.

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