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Discord confirms third-party support breach; some users’ ID photos, support messages and limited payment details were accessed

 



Discord, the popular communication platform used by millions worldwide, has confirmed a data breach that compromised the systems of one of its third-party customer support providers. The incident, which occurred on September 20, 2025, allowed an unauthorized individual to gain access to a database containing user information linked to customer support interactions. Discord disclosed the breach in an official statement released on October 3, assuring users that the attack did not target its internal servers or primary infrastructure.

According to the company, the attacker infiltrated a third-party vendor that managed certain customer service functions on behalf of Discord. Once discovered, Discord immediately revoked the vendor’s access, launched an internal review, and appointed an external cybersecurity firm to conduct a forensic investigation. Law enforcement authorities have also been notified, and Discord says that the investigation remains ongoing.


Details of Compromised Information

Discord confirmed that the breach involved data submitted through customer support or Trust & Safety tickets. This included users’ names, email addresses, Discord usernames, IP addresses, and any messages or attachments exchanged with support representatives.

In addition, a limited amount of payment-related data was exposed. This information was restricted to payment type, purchase history, and the last four digits of credit card numbers. Full credit card numbers, security codes, passwords, and account authentication data were not accessed.

In a smaller subset of cases, images of government-issued identification, such as driver’s licenses or passports, were also accessed. These documents were typically submitted by users appealing age-verification decisions or account restrictions. Discord stated that approximately 70,000 accounts may have been affected in this way.


Ongoing Investigation and Conflicting Claims

While Discord has provided official figures, several online reports have circulated with conflicting claims regarding the size and nature of the data stolen. Some threat actors have claimed responsibility for the breach, while others have denied involvement, and certain forums have reported exaggerated data volumes. Discord has cautioned users to approach such claims with skepticism, describing them as part of an extortion attempt aimed at pressuring the company into paying a ransom.

The identity of the compromised vendor has also been discussed in several reports. Discord named the third-party service provider involved in its statement, while other publications have mentioned companies such as Zendesk and 5CA in connection to the breach. However, details about the vendor’s technical infrastructure and the exact attack vector remain under forensic examination.


What Affected Users Should Do

Discord has contacted users whose information was affected, sending official notification emails that include the corresponding support ticket numbers. Those who received this communication are advised to follow the instructions in the email and verify which data may have been accessed.

Users who did not receive a message from Discord are believed to be unaffected. However, all users are urged to stay vigilant by monitoring bank statements for unauthorized activity, avoiding suspicious links or phishing emails, and reporting any unusual behavior through Discord’s official support channels. The company also recommends enabling multi-factor authentication to strengthen account security.

This incident underlines a broader cybersecurity challenge that many organizations face: third-party vulnerabilities. Even when a company’s internal systems are well protected, outsourced vendors handling sensitive user data can become weak points in the security chain.

Cybersecurity experts note that such breaches highlight the need for stricter vendor management, including routine audits, limited data retention policies, and well-defined access controls. Companies must ensure that external partners uphold the same data protection standards expected within their own infrastructure.


Discord’s Response

Discord stated that it remains committed to protecting user privacy and maintaining transparency as the investigation continues. The company is working closely with forensic specialists to identify the extent of the exposure and prevent similar incidents in the future.

The breach serves as a reminder for users to remain cautious online and for organizations to constantly evaluate their digital supply chains. As investigations continue, Discord has emphasized that no action is required from users who have not received a notification, but heightened awareness remains essential for all.



UnitedHealth Cyberattack Becomes Largest Health Data Breach in History

 



The recent cyberattack on UnitedHealth has now been confirmed as the biggest health care data breach ever recorded, affecting more than 192 million people, over one-third of the U.S. population.

When news of the incident first broke in 2023, reports estimated around 100 million individuals had been impacted. Updated figures released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services now show the scale was nearly twice as large, with 192.7 million people’s personal and medical information exposed.

The stolen data is said to include highly sensitive details such as medical records, diagnoses, test results, treatment information, and insurance identifiers. In addition, Social Security numbers, driver’s license details, billing information, payment data, and claims history were also compromised. The breadth of this information makes the breach especially serious, as it extends beyond health data into financial and personal identity details.

The attack targeted Change Healthcare, a technology subsidiary of UnitedHealth that processes payments for many major health insurance providers. According to congressional testimony earlier this year, hackers gained access to company systems through stolen employee login details. Critically, the system they broke into did not have multi-factor authentication enabled, making it easier to exploit.

The group responsible, known as BlackCat, used ransomware to disrupt claims processing and patient care systems nationwide. UnitedHealth paid a ransom reportedly worth $22 million to secure deletion of the stolen files, but investigators later found the attackers had not honored the agreement. After receiving payment, the group disappeared and shut down its servers.


What this means for individuals

Given the enormous number of people affected, many Americans may find their private information exposed. While there is no way to undo the breach, individuals can take steps to reduce risks.

Experts recommend:

1. Identity protection services: These can alert you to unusual use of your information and often provide insurance against fraud.

2. Stronger device security: Reliable antivirus programs help block malware and often include additional tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs) for safer browsing.

3. Account monitoring: Keep a close eye on bank, insurance, and medical accounts for suspicious activity.

4. Vigilance against scams: Many attackers follow up breaches with phishing emails or fake offers. Do not click links or open attachments from unknown sources, even if they appear official.


It is also important to remain cautious on social media and to avoid offers or messages that appear too good to be true, as these are common tactics in social engineering attacks.

The UnitedHealth incident underscores how cyberattacks on critical infrastructure can have wide-reaching consequences. For the millions affected, awareness and proactive security measures are now essential in limiting further damage.



On E-Commerce Servers, New Malware Masquerades as the Nginx Process

 

Remote access malware is being used to attack eCommerce servers, and it hides on Nginx servers in such a way that security solutions can't detect it. NginRAT is a combination of the application it targets and the remote access capabilities it delivers, and it is being used in server-side attacks to steal payment card data from online stores. 

NginRAT was discovered on eCommerce servers in North America and Europe infected with CronRAT, a remote access trojan (RAT) that hides payloads in activities scheduled to run on an invalid calendar day. Even if the day does not exist in the calendar, the Linux cron system accepts date requirements as long as they have a proper format, which implies the scheduled task will not run. 

CronRAT relies on this to maintain its anonymity. According to research released by Dutch cyber-security firm Sansec, it hides a "sophisticated Bash programme" in the names of scheduled tasks. Multiple levels of compression and Base64 encoding are used to conceal the payloads. The code has been cleaned up and now contains self-destruction, time modulation, and a custom protocol for communicating with a remote server. 

NginRAT has infected servers in the United States, Germany, and France, injecting into Nginx processes that are undetectable, allowing it to remain unnoticed. The new malware, according to researchers at Sansec, is delivered CronRAT, despite the fact that both perform the same function: granting remote access to the attacked system. 

While the two RATs use quite different approaches to preserve their secrecy, Willem de Groot, director of threat research at Sansec, told BleepingComputer that they appear to have the same role, operating as a backup for preserving remote access. After developing a custom CronRAT and analyzing the interactions with the command and control server (C2) in China, Sansec was able to investigate NginRAT. As part of the typical malicious interaction, the researchers duped the C2 into transmitting and executing a rogue shared library payload, masking the NginRAT "more advanced piece of malware."

“NginRAT essentially hijacks a host Nginx application to stay undetected. To do that, NginRAT modifies core functionality of the Linux host system. When the legitimate Nginx web server uses such functionality (eg dlopen), NginRAT intercepts it to inject itself", reads the analysis published by the experts. The remote access malware is embedded in the Nginx process in such a way that it is practically impossible to distinguish from a valid process at the end of the process.

Researchers Have Issued a Warning About Phishing Scams That Imitate Netflix

 

The tremendous shift of movie and television audiences to streaming services over the last year has offered scammers a golden opportunity to conduct phishing attacks in order to trick future customers into handing over their payment information. Cybercriminals will always follow payment data, according to Kaspersky's Leonid Grustniy, who warned of phishing attempts disguised as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other streaming service offers. 

Depending on their current streaming subscription status, Kaspersky's researchers detected several lures aimed at targets. Fake sign-up pages for services like Netflix were used to obtain victims' email addresses and credit card information. “Armed with your info, they can withdraw or spend your money right away; your email address should come in handy for future attacks,” Grustniy wrote. 

Fans who did not have subscriptions were lured in by cybercriminals who offered them the chance to view popular series on a bogus website. They usually display a short clip as a teaser, which they try to pass off as a fresh, previously unaired episode. It's usually taken from trailers that have been in the public domain for a long time. Victims who are interested are then prompted to purchase a low-cost subscription in order to continue viewing. What happens next is a standard scenario: any payment information entered by users is sent directly to the fraudsters, and the never-before-seen episode continues. 

Account credentials for streaming services are also popular among cybercriminals, who are interested in more than just bank account information. Because hijacked accounts with paid subscriptions are sold on the dark web. 

Scammers are increasingly using the extensive cultural influence of video streaming platforms as a weapon. For example, the worldwide enthusiasm in Netflix's Squid Game has recently been used to scam crypto investors out of more than $3.3 million. Check Point Research identified a fraudulent Netflix application in the Google Play store last spring, which spread via WhatsApp chats.

Users should avoid clicking on any emails that appear to be affiliated with streaming services and be aware of obvious signals that it's a scam, such as misspellings in messages when payment information is requested. “Do not trust any person or site promising viewings of movies or shows before the official premiere,” Grustniy added.

Amazon-owned Twitch Says Source Code Disclosed in Data Breach

 

Twitch, which is owned by Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), announced on Friday that last week's data breach at the live streaming e-sports platform includes documents from its source code. 

The streaming platform said in a statement that the users' passwords, login credentials, complete credit card numbers, or bank data were not accessed or disclosed in the breach. The platform, which is used by video gamers to communicate with users while live streaming content, attributed the breach to an issue in server configuration modification. 

During server maintenance, modifications to the server's configuration are made. A flawed configuration can allow unauthorized access to the data stored on the servers. 

Twitch said it was "confident" the incident affected only a small number of users and that it was contacting those who had been directly impacted. The platform has more than 30 million average daily visitors. 

Video Games Chronicle had reported that about 125 gigabytes of data was leaked in the breach.  Data includes details on Twitch's highest-paid video game streamers since 2019 such as a $9.6 million payout to the voice actors of the popular game "Dungeons & Dragons" and $8.4 million to Canadian streamer xQcOW. 

About the breach

On October 6, Twitch confirmed that it has suffered a major data breach and that a hacker accessed the company’s servers due to a misconfiguration change. 

A Twitch spokesperson stated on Twitter, “We can confirm a breach has taken place. Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available.” 

The leaked Twitch data reportedly includes: 
  • The entirety of Twitch’s source code with commit history “going back to its early beginnings” 
  • Creator payout reports from 2019 
  • Mobile, desktop, and console Twitch clients 
  • Proprietary SDKs and internal AWS services used by Twitch 
  • “Every other property that Twitch owns” including IGDB and CurseForge 
  • An unreleased Steam competitor, codenamed Vapor, from Amazon Game Studios 
  • Twitch internal ‘red teaming’ tools (designed to improve security by having staff pretend to be hackers) 
It is advised that Twitch users use two-factor authentication, which implies that even if the password is hacked, the user will still need to use the phone to confirm the identity via SMS or an authenticator app.