The Rippleshot Data Breach Blog

Data Breach Ripples: Week of November 17

Written by Zach Walker | Nov 21, 2014 3:30:00 PM

Get caught up with latest news regarding data breaches and key information security topics for the week of November 17th. 

Get caught up with latest news regarding data breaches and key information security topics for the week of November 17th. 

 ICYMI: USPS Suffers Data Breach

In recent news, Reuters reported that the U.S. Postal Service appears to be the latest victim of a cyber attack, affecting more than 800,000 employees that compromised personal information including dates of birth, Social Security numbers and addresses. USPS spokesman David Partenheimer said in a statement that the attack was carried out by a “sophisticated actor” that did not appear to be interested in information that could be used for identity theft or payment card fraud.

 

Home Depot Data Breach Reveals Similarities to Target Data Breach

 As we learn more about Home Depot, victim of the largest retailer data breach in history, cyber security experts are noticing similar trends to the Target data breach of 2013. In a Tripwire “State of Security” post, author Ken Westin notes that the initial intrusion of Home Depot’s network appears to have been compromised by a third-party business vendor affecting over 7,500 self-checkout systems.

For a more in depth look into these two massive data breaches, check out our Home Depot and Target data breach posts.

 

U.S. House, Senate Democrats Seek Details From Financial Firms on Data Breaches

On Tuesday, November 18, Reuters reported that key members of the US Senate and House sent letters to 16 of the largest financial institutions in the United States requesting more information on the latest series of data breaches affecting US cardholders.

Led by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Elijah Cummings, the letters sent targeted banks, investment firms and other service providers in the financial industry, requesting information regarding the details of all data breaches in the last year including the massive data breaches at Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus and many more.


Rippleshot Story: Evaluating PCI Standards in the Wake of High Profile Security Breaches 

"Regardless of whether Home Depot kept up with compliance standards or whether the standards simply aren't high enough, the fact remains that a credit card security breach is a very real problem and can happen to just about any organization, large or small.”

In our latest blog post, we cover PCI compliance and its impact on some of the larger data breaches. For retailers, financial institutions and security experts, the threat landscape is changing and it’s paramount for organizations to keep up with the ever-growing complexities of cyber crime.  

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