Zack Whittaker, Author at TechCrunch

Security bugs in ransomware leak sites helped save six companies from paying hefty ransoms

Zack Whittaker — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 22:20:00 +0000

The vulnerabilities allowed one security researcher to peek inside the leak sites without having to log in.

Home security giant ADT says it was hacked

Zack Whittaker — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 14:33:42 +0000

The home security company says attackers accessed databases containing customer home addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers.

UK data watchdog to fine NHS vendor Advanced for security failures prior to LockBit ransomware attack

Zack Whittaker — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 23:01:00 +0000

The ICO issued the provisional fine in "failing to implement appropriate security measures prior to the attack."

Cyberattack knocks Mobile Guardian MDM offline and wipes thousands of student devices

Zack Whittaker — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:05:30 +0000

Students that use school devices managed by Mobile Guardian have been unable to access their files for days following a cyberattack.

How the theft of 40M UK voter register records was entirely preventable

Zack Whittaker, Natasha Lomas — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 05:00:00 +0000

A scathing rebuke by the U.K. data protection watchdog reveals what led to the compromise of tens of millions of U.K. voters' information.

Pharma giant Cencora is alerting millions about its data breach

Zack Whittaker — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 14:45:00 +0000

The pharma giant won't say how many patients were affected by its February data breach. A count by TechCrunch confirms that over a million people are affected.

HealthEquity data breach affects 4.3M people

Zack Whittaker — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 14:40:15 +0000

HealthEquity said the March data breach included personal information and protected health data on millions of people.

How to opt out of facial recognition at airports (if you’re American)

Zack Whittaker — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 17:30:00 +0000

U.S. airports are rolling out facial recognition to scan travelers' faces before boarding their flights. Americans, at least, can opt out.

US border agents must get warrant before cell phone searches, federal court rules

Zack Whittaker — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 11:00:49 +0000

Critics have long argued that wararantless device searches at the U.S. border are unconstitutional and violate the Fourth Amendment.

Data breach exposes US spyware maker behind Windows, Mac, Android and Chromebook malware

Zack Whittaker — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 13:00:57 +0000

Exclusive: The Minnesota-based spyware maker Spytech snooped on thousands of devices before it was hacked earlier this year.

US cyber agency CISA says malicious hackers are ‘taking advantage’ of CrowdStrike outage

Zack Whittaker — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 23:55:02 +0000

CISA confirmed the CrowdStrike outage was not caused by a cyberattack, but urged caution as malicious hackers exploit the situation.

What we know about CrowdStrike’s update fail that’s causing global outages and travel chaos

Zack Whittaker, Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 17:25:00 +0000

Here's everything you need to know so far about the global outages caused by CrowdStrike's buggy software update.

USPS shared customer postal addresses with Meta, LinkedIn and Snap

Zack Whittaker — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 15:15:35 +0000

The U.S. Postal Service confirmed it took action to "remediate" the data sharing following a TechCrunch investigation.

The biggest data breaches in 2024: 1 billion stolen records and rising

Zack Whittaker — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 20:20:00 +0000

Some of the largest, most damaging breaches of 2024 already account for over a billion stolen records.

Kaspersky to shut down US operations, lay off employees after US government ban

Zack Whittaker — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 13:11:36 +0000

The Russia-based security software maker said its U.S. business is "no longer viable" following a U.S. Commerce Department sales ban.

AT&T says criminals stole phone records of ‘nearly all’ customers in new data breach

Zack Whittaker — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 10:27:59 +0000

The stolen data includes 110 million AT&T customer phone numbers, calling and text records, and some location-related data.

Data breach exposes millions of mSpy spyware customers

Zack Whittaker — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 19:15:20 +0000

A huge batch of mSpy customer service emails dating back to 2014 were stolen in a May data breach.

Remote access giant TeamViewer says Russian spies hacked its corporate network

Zack Whittaker — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 13:20:27 +0000

The remote access giant linked the cyberattack to government-backed hackers working for Russian intelligence, known as APT29.

US charges Russian civilian for allegedly helping GRU spies target Ukrainian government systems with data-destroying malware

Zack Whittaker — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 21:21:48 +0000

U.S. prosecutors say the WhisperGate cyberattack was designed to "sow concern" among Ukrainian civil society ahead of Russia's invasion.

Car dealership outages drag on after CDK cyberattacks

Zack Whittaker — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:00:56 +0000

Car dealerships and auto shops around the U.S. enter a second week of disruption following cyberattacks at software maker CDK.