Links in “Cybersecurity/Data Breaches”

The bad news is that Heartland Payment Systems, a debit and credit card processor, has suffered a second data breach. The good news, if you can call it that, is that this breach appears to have affected considerably fewer accounts. The first breach in 2008 affected over 130 million credit and debit cards, while it is believed that this breach will impact about 2,200 customers. [6/3/15]

An employee accidentally sent an Excel spreadsheet with customer information and redeemable codes for more than $1 million in gift cards to more than 1,000 customers. "Protecting yourself from human error is just as important as protecting yourself from hackers and malware." [6/2/15]

If you’re unclear on the prevalence of DDoS issues, all it takes is a quick online search to turn up headline after headline of DDoS attacks. And those headlines are added to on an hourly basis; DDoS is an epidemic on the rise. Now, more than ever, it is crucial that your organization protects itself. [6/2/15]

Australian-based Woolworths accidentally attached a sensitive Excel spreadsheet to a promotional email, unleashing a data breach of 8,000 gift cards containing customers' redeemable codes, names, and email addresses. The total amount of gift card worth comes to AU$1,308,505.  [6/2/15]

Time from discovery to remediation takes, on average across all sectors, six days. But financial services companies are among the slowest, from eight to 10 days. [6/1/15]

According to a recent report, the most common method retailers use to identify an advanced cyber threat is "a gut feeling." And that gut is a bit sluggish. It takes retailers an average of 197 days to identify that they've been hit, and 39 days to contain it. How do financial institutions do in comparison? [5/20/15]

Chances are you haven't crammed for a final in quite some time. But why not give the FFIEC Cybersecurity Exam the old college try? Recently, the FFIEC released several statements to aid financial institutions in not only preparing for a cybersecurity exam, but also in creating a sturdier standard of defense against the almost inevitable threat of cyber attack. [5/12/15]

Kaspersky Lab reports that there were 2.2 billion malicious attacks on computers and mobile devices in the first quarter of 2015 alone.  The data shows that the trend is towards mobile device attacks that attempt to steal or extort money and/or financial data from users. [5/12/15]

Russia and China, two cyberworld superpowers, just signed a pact not to cyberattack each other. What does that mean to the U.S.? [5/12/15]

A judge has denied the request of five financial institutions, including one credit union, to stop a proposed settlement between Target and MasterCard. The five had argued that the settlement was far less than the issuers’ actual damages, was not properly calculated, was negotiated without consulting the issuers, and could pressure other issuers to accept the offer or risk losing the ability to issue MasterCard products. [5/11/15]