Search This Blog

Powered by Blogger.

Blog Archive

Labels

Showing posts with label The Guardian ransomware attack. Show all posts

JD Sports: Data of 10 Million Customers at Risk


Following a cyber-attack, sportswear chain JD Sports has confirmed that the stored data of around 10 million customers might be at risk. The company said data that “may have been accessed” by the threat actors included names, addresses, email accounts, phone numbers, order details, and the final four digits of bank cards. 

Apparently, the data is related to online orders between November 2018 and October 2020. The company assured that the affected customers are being informed about the breach. 

It further added that the affected data was “limited.” The company claimed that payment card information was secure and that there is no reason to believe that hackers had gained access to customer passwords. 

In regards to the data breach, the chief financial officer of JD Sports, Neil Greenhalgh stated “We want to apologize to those customers who may have been affected by this incident […] Protecting the data of our customers is an absolute priority for JD.” 

The hack targeted online purchases made under the JD, Size, Millets, Blacks, Scotts, and MilletSport brands. It is believed that the business discovered the attack recently, but that only historical data was accessed. 

Reportedly, the company is working in collaboration with some of the “leading cyber-security experts” and is engaging with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in regard to the incident. 

Mr. Greenhalgh has advised the affected customers to be “vigilant about potential scam e-mails, calls and texts.” 

UK Companies Vulnerable to Cyber-attacks 

In recent times, numerous UK Businesses have witnessed at least one cyber-attacks. For an instance: 

  • Earlier this month, Royal Mail was a victim of a ransomware attack that resulted in its halt of post and parcel delivery operations overseas. 
  • In December 2022, the Guardian newspaper was targeted by a malicious ransomware attack. 

According to Lauren Wills-Dixon, solicitor and an expert in data privacy at law firm Gordons, businesses are needed to be prepared for potential cyber-attacks since they are among the most common targets for threat actors. The reason for the same is the large amount of customer data they have in store. 

She also added that the increased use of technology by the industry “to reduce overheads and streamline operations has raised the risk even further.” 

“In this new world, it's not 'if' but 'when' a cyber-attack will happen.” 

‘The Guardian’ Apparently Hit by a Ransomware Attack


UK’s Guardian newspaper has been hit by a severe IT incident, apparently a ransomware attack, on Tuesday. The attack began late at night and has affected parts of the newspaper company’s technology infrastructure. 

While online publishing is mostly unaffected and news stories are still being posted to The Guardian website and app, the employees were being instructed to work from home, as per the reports put forth by The Guardian. 

It has yet not been made clear as to how the breach occurred, whether any company data was stolen or if any threat actor has demanded a ransom payment from the British daily publication. In any general case of a ransomware attack, ransomware groups end up extracting payment in order to restore the victim’s breached files or selling the victim’s sensitive data, or both.  

“As everyone knows, there has been a serious incident which has affected our IT network and systems in the last 24 hours […] We believe this to be a ransomware attack but are continuing to consider all possibilities,” says Guardian Media Group’s chief executive, Anna Bateson, and editor-in-chief Katharine Viner. 

“We are continuing to publish globally to our website and apps and although some of our internal systems are affected, we are confident we will be able to publish in print tomorrow. Our technology teams have been working to deal with all aspects of this incident, with the vast majority of our staff able to work from home as we did during the pandemic.” 

While the publication plans on sharing further information in regard to the attack, it ensures that this would not affect the newspaper production, scheduled for Thursday. 

Ransomware has emerged as a serious threat all across the business world, with nearly 92 percent of global organizations witnessing at least one email-based ransomware in the year 2022, shows a recent study by cybersecurity company, Tussian. 

In addition to this, 10 percent of the security giants say that they have reported over 450 email-based ransomware attacks since January 2022. While 72 percent reported having experienced account compromise and takeover attempts in the year 2022.