The email communications firm Epsilon suffered a database hack on March 30. Personal information in the form of names and emails for millions of consumers was exposed to hackers in the Epsilon data security breach. Phishing attacks are anticipated to be the inevitable result of the Epsilon data base hack, and the company’s clients began warning their customers Monday. Source of article – Epsilon database hack exposes millions to phishing attacks by MoneyBlogNewz.
Database takes Epsilon names
The Epsilon database hack could be the biggest in history of a hack while millions of names and email addresses were stolen. Annually, about 40 billion marketing emails are sent out for 2,500 corporations by Epsilon. The company announced that it was hacked on Friday, meaning emails and other information given to web sites may have been stolen.
Many companies were affected by this. There were at least a dozen involved. Customers at banks for instance Capital One, Barclays Bank, U.S. Bancorp, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase need to be on the lookout for phishing attacks. Watch out when you have been at other businesses also. These will contain Kroger, Walgreens, TiVo, Best Buy and HSN. Student email addresses from SAT organization, College Board, may have been stolen as well for about 5,900 universities and colleges.
Scams galore
It’s likely the stolen names and email addresses in the Epsilon database hack could be used to target spam. This data security breach could make “phishing” attacks more effective because cyber-criminals can target actual account holders with a financial institution or retailer. Fake accounts are put together for the phishing emails. Then, the customer is certain to log in so the information could be stolen. Once hackers have a person’s name and email address, they may also find personal details on Facebook that could be used to make the email more convincing. Several times, a phishing con will say that an account can be closed if information is not updated or ask an individual to update charge card information. Sometimes the phishing scam will say the account is compromised. They’ll say information needs to be updated due to this.
Making history with this breach
The number of students and consumers exposed to the database hacks has yet to be made clear by Epsilon, although it was clear that it was limited. In addition to the Epsilon clients mentioned above, others contain Verizon Communications, Hilton Hotels, Kraft Foods and AstraZeneca. Internet security analysts believe the Epsilon database hack may surpass the Heartland Payment Systems hack, currently recognized as the biggest identity-theft incident in U.S. history. After stealing over 40 million payment card numbers in the Heartland Payment Systems hack, Albert Gonzalez got 20 years in prison as a sentence.
Citations
Associated Press
finance.yahoo.com/news/Banks-creditcard-issuers-warn-apf-754015157.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
MSN Money
money.msn.com/identity-theft/news.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20110403&id=13261200
Computer world
computerworld.com/s/article/print/9215443/Update_Bank_customers_warned_after_breach_at_Epsilon_marketing_firm?taxonomyName=Security&taxonomyId=17
Microsoft
microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/phishing-symptoms.aspx
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