Weekly Cybersecurity Recap August 25
Table of Contents
- By Steven
- Published: Aug 25, 2023
- Last Updated: Aug 28, 2023
Data breaches are quickly becoming one of the most damaging crimes committed today and one of the most common. Hackers are stealing valuable information from organizations at a rapidly growing rate, which means your data isn't safe for anyone. Major companies like Tesla, M&T Bank, and Duolingo were all hit by breaches this week, as well as Missouri Medicaid, the University of Missouri, and UMass Chan Medical School. Get all the details about these breaches and learn if your information was involved.
Tesla
Tesla, one of the largest electric automakers in the world, was recently part of a data breach exposing as many as 75,735 people, mostly Tesla workers. The breach occurred because two Tesla employees shared confidential information with the Handelsblatt news outlet. It's unclear whether this information was misused after it was shared or not, but the news outlet informed Tesla that the data breach occurred. The people involved are likely safe from being hacked, but everyone should at least monitor their credit to watch for future problems.
UMass Chan Medical School
Medical students attending UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts recently lost significant data to a breach. Over 134,000 students were identified as being involved in this breach, and they lost Social Security numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, and more. The breach was caused by a problem with MOVEit file transfer software, and everyone involved is encouraged to use identity theft protection to guard their data.
Missouri Medicaid and the University of Missouri
Both Missouri's Medicaid program and the University of Missouri were breached due to the MOVEit data breach. The breach likely occurred in May or June of 2023, and the large number of users affected lost Social Security numbers, medical information, financial data, birth dates, and more to the breach.
M&T Bank
M&T Bank is based in Buffalo, New York, and serves nearly 700,000 people throughout more than 1,000 locations. The bank is a major financial establishment that many people rely on to protect their data and money. It's upsetting to learn the bank was hacked and information for more than 95,261 people was exposed. The attack exposed Social Security numbers, home addresses, phone numbers, full names, and more. Everyone identified as being exposed by this breach has access to identity theft protection for their safety.
Duolingo
Duolingo is one of the largest language learning tools available to users around the world today. The service connects more than 74 million users to a language-learning platform. Duolingo was hacked back in January of 2023 through a vulnerable API. More than 2.6 million users of the service had their data scraped and sold online to interested hackers. Only usernames, full names, and email addresses were taken from users, but the data is still enough to launch phishing attacks against individuals.