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:

  • Swedish transport agencies targeted in cyber attack

    October 12, 2017

    Swedish transport authorities were hit by a cyber attack on Thursday morning, a day after trains were delayed as a result of another attack on IT systems monitoring railway traffic. The website of Sweden’s Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen) was partially down on Thursday morning, according to the agency most likely as a result of a DDoS attack. During ...

  • Cyber-security threat to UK ‘as serious as terrorism’ – GCHQ

    October 9, 2017

    Keeping the UK safe from cyber-attacks is now as important as fighting terrorism, the head of the intelligence monitoring service GCHQ has said. Jeremy Fleming said increased funding for GCHQ was being spent on making it a “cyber-organisation” as much as an intelligence and counter-terrorism one. It comes after the NHS and parliament suffered cyber-attacks this year. Mr ...

  • Disqus Hacked: More than 17.5 Million Users’ Details Stolen in 2012 Breach

    October 6, 2017

    Another day, Another data breach disclosure. This time the popular commenting system has fallen victim to a massive security breach. Disqus, the company which provides a web-based comment plugin for websites and blogs, has admitted that it was breached 5 years ago in July 2012 and hackers stole details of more than 17.5 million users. The stolen data ...

  • Spy vs spy vs hacker vs… who is THAT? Everyone’s hacking each other

    October 5, 2017

    VB2017 Intel agencies and top-tier hackers are actively hacking other hackers in order to steal victim data, borrow tools and techniques, and reuse each other’s infrastructure, attendees at Virus Bulletin Con, Madrid, were told yesterday. The increasing amount of spy-vs-spy type activity is making accurate threat intel increasingly difficult for security researchers, according to Kaspersky Lab. Threat intelligence ...

  • FormBook—Cheap Password Stealing Malware Used In Targeted Attacks

    October 5, 2017

    It seems sophisticated hackers have changed the way they conduct targeted cyber operations—instead of investing in zero-days and developing their malware; some hacking groups have now started using ready-made malware just like script kiddies. Possibly, this could be a smart move for state-sponsored hackers to avoid being attributed easily. Security researchers from multiple security firms, including Arbor Networks and FireEye, ...

  • Equifax Says 145.5M Affected by Breach, Ex-CEO Testifies

    October 3, 2017

    Equifax, the credit agency behind this summer’s breach of 143 million Americans, said this week the number of victims implicated in the breach has increased. Paulino do Rego Barros, Jr., the company’s interim CEO, announced Monday that 2.5 million additional Americans were also impacted, bringing the grand total to 145.5 million affected individuals. Equifax initially called its investigation around ...