Cybercriminals breach Aflac as part of hacking spree against US insurance industry


Cybercriminals have breached insurance giant Aflac, potentially stealing Social Security numbers, insurance claims and health information, the company said Friday, the latest in a spree of hacks against the insurance industry.

With billions of dollars in annual revenue and tens of millions of customers, Aflac is the biggest victim yet in the ongoing digital assault on US insurance companies that has the industry on edge and the FBI and private cyber experts scrambling to contain the fallout. Erie Insurance and Philadelphia Insurance Companies have also reported hacks this month, which in those cases have caused widespread disruptions to IT systems used to serve customers. All three insurance-company hacks are consistent with the techniques of a young and rampant cybercrime group known as Scattered Spider, people familiar the investigation tell CNN.

Read more…
Source: CNN News


Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.


Related:

  • Island hopping: The latest security threat you should be aware of

    July 1, 2019

    While island hopping sounds like a great way to spend a holiday in Thailand or Greece, the term also refers to an advanced cyber attack technique. Though it’s not a new phenomenon, this type of attack increased in prevalence in 2018 and will likely become more and more common. The name ‘island hopping’ comes from a WWII ...

  • New Dridex Variant Slips By Anti-Virus Detection

    June 28, 2019

    A never-before-seen Dridex variant has been spotted in phishing emails using anti-virus detection evasion tactics. Researchers have spotted a variant of the Dridex banking trojan with new obfuscation capabilities that help it skirt anti-virus detection. While Dridex has been around since 2011, researchers told Threatpost Friday that they recently spotted phishing emails distributing a never-before-seen variant of the ...

  • Riltok mobile Trojan: A banker with global reach

    June 25, 2019

    Riltok is one of numerous families of mobile banking Trojans with standard (for such malware) functions and distribution methods. Originally intended to target the Russian audience, the banker was later adapted, with minimal modifications, for the European “market.” The bulk of its victims (more than 90%) reside in Russia, with France in second place (4%). ...

  • Anonymous hacker exposed after dropping USB drive while throwing Molotov cocktail

    June 24, 2019

    In a bizarre investigation, Belgium police have identified a member of the Anonymous Belgium hacker collective while investigating an arson case at a local bank. The perpetrator, a 35-year-old man from the Belgian city of Roeselare, was initially arrested after throwing a Molotov cocktail at the Crelan Bank office in Rumbeke, a suburb of Roeselare, back ...

  • Plurox: Modular backdoor

    June 18, 2019

    In February this year, a curious backdoor passed across our virtual desk. The analysis showed the malware to have a few quite unpleasant features. It can spread itself over a local network via an exploit, provide access to the attacked network, and install miners and other malicious software on victim computers. What’s more, the backdoor ...

  • Houdini malware targets victims with keylogger, online bank account theft tools

    June 17, 2019

    A new variant of the Houdini malware has been detected in campaigns against financial institutions and their customers. Last week, cybersecurity researchers from Cofense said in a blog post that the new strain of Houdini — also known as HWorm — was released by its author on June 2, 2019. Dubbed WSH Remote Access Tool (RAT), it took the ...