Weekly Infosec News Brief: 3-9 July 2017

Three Million Customers' Data Left Exposed on Web by WWE

WWE (World Wide Wrestling Entertainment) was found last week to have left personal data on over three million customers openly exposed on an AWS (Amazon Web Services) server. The data included customer names, addresses, earnings range, educational background, and birthdates, as well as the names, ages, and sexes of their children. This is far from the first such incident in the recent past; it is essential that organizations storing proprietary, personal, or sensitive data on AWS or other cloud-based platform ensure that they are storing the data in a secure fashion. Many seem to be assuming that such storage is secure by default, but this is far from true.

Windows 10 Creators Update to Include New EMET-Like Security Capability

The Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) is a security add-on from Microsoft that provides powerful exploit prevention capabilities for Windows 7 and 8 (and XP back when it was supported). The tool is supported on Windows 10, but the functionality has been largely built-in to the operating system. This fall's Windows 10 Creators Update is set to offer expanded functionality and reporting tools for exploit mitigation with a new "Exploit Guard" tool. The update is also expected to include expanded capabilities for Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, the could-based, behavioral malware detection tool for Windows that Microsoft introduced in mid-2016. These enhancements provide a powerful argument for organizations to consider adopting Windows 10 for security reasons alone.

Ars Technica: "Microsoft bringing EMET back as a built-in part of Windows 10"

British Automobile Association Leaks Credit Card Data, Fails to Notify Customers

The AA, the British Automobile Association, suffered a breach last month which appears to have exposed large amounts of customer data, including names and credit card information. The AA's investigation concluded that no sensitive data was exposed, and as a result they decided is was not necessary to inform customers of the breach. It appears, however, that that assessment was incorrect, and the UK media is speculating that 100,000+ customers' data may be for sale on the dark web as a result. In planning for breach response, it is vital that organizations know their reporting requirements for the various key data types they hold.

Over 14 Million Android Devices Infected by CopyCat Malware

Researchers from Check Point last week revealed their discovery of a widespread Android malware they named "CopyCat," which has infected over 14 million Android devices worldwide. The intent of this malware appears to be to make money by stealing credit for advertising clicks, but the incident illustrates how successful an Android malware can be in spreading. The malware was installed through 3rd-party application stores, rather than the official Google Play store. If you have a "bring your own device" policy for mobile devices in your organization, do you effectively enforce a prohibition on "rooted" devices and a requirement to load apps only through the official app stores?



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