Yazılar

India’s Max Financial Reports Cybersecurity Incident at Axis Max Life Insurance Unit

/in /tarafından

Max Financial Services announced on Wednesday that its subsidiary, Axis Max Life Insurance, received an anonymous communication warning of unauthorized access to some customer data. The company has launched a security assessment and is analyzing data logs to investigate the breach.

Max Financial stated that a detailed investigation is underway with the help of cybersecurity experts to identify the root cause and implement necessary remedial actions.

Axis Max Life Insurance is a joint venture between Max Financial and private lender Axis Bank. The announcement comes amid a rising wave of cyberattacks in India’s financial sector, with firms like Angel One, Niva Bupa, Star Health, and HDFC Life Insurance reporting significant breaches in the past year.

These incidents have triggered regulatory mandates for comprehensive IT audits across the insurance industry. Cyber fraud cases in India surged more than fourfold in fiscal 2024, resulting in losses exceeding $20 million. Government data shows that since 2021, individuals have lost nearly $1.26 billion to cyber fraud at financial institutions.

Qantas Suffers Major Cyber Hack Affecting 6 Million Customer Accounts

/in /tarafından

Australian airline Qantas revealed on Wednesday that a cyber hacker accessed a third-party customer service platform used by one of its call centres, compromising the personal data of approximately six million customers. The breach exposed names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and frequent flyer numbers, marking Australia’s most significant cyberattack in recent years.

Qantas has not disclosed the call centre’s location or the precise number of affected customers but confirmed the breach was discovered after detecting unusual activity. The airline is still investigating the full scope of the stolen data but expects it to be substantial. Importantly, Qantas stated that frequent flyer accounts, passwords, PINs, or login credentials were not accessed, and operations and safety were not impacted.

The incident occurs amid heightened cyber threats targeting airlines worldwide. The FBI recently reported that the hacker group Scattered Spider has targeted airlines such as Hawaiian Airlines and WestJet. While Qantas did not identify the attacker, cybersecurity experts warn that social engineering attacks on airline staff may be involved.

This breach brings unwelcome scrutiny to Qantas, which is recovering from a reputational crisis caused by controversies during the COVID-19 pandemic, including illegal staff layoffs and ticketing issues. Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson acknowledged the seriousness of the breach and assured customers of the airline’s commitment to protecting personal information. Authorities including the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, and the Australian Federal Police have been notified.

Qantas shares fell 2.4% in afternoon trading, while the overall market rose.

US Judge Approves $177 Million Settlement in AT&T 2024 Data Breach Lawsuits

/in /tarafından

A U.S. judge granted preliminary approval on Friday to a $177 million settlement resolving class-action lawsuits against telecom giant AT&T (T.N) over data breaches in 2024 that exposed personal information of tens of millions of customers. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown in Dallas ruled that the settlement was fair and reasonable.

The settlement addresses claims stemming from breaches announced by AT&T in May and July of last year. Depending on the breach, customers who suffered losses “fairly traceable” to the incidents can receive payments of up to $2,500 or $5,000. After direct loss claims are paid, remaining funds will be distributed to customers whose personal data was accessed.

AT&T denied responsibility for the criminal acts but agreed to the settlement to avoid prolonged and costly litigation. The company expects final approval by the end of 2025 and plans to begin issuing payments early next year.

One breach involved the illegal download of about 109 million customer accounts from AT&T’s Snowflake cloud platform, exposing six months of call and text logs from 2022 for nearly all its customers. In March 2024, AT&T revealed a related data set released on the dark web, affecting approximately 7.6 million current and 65.4 million former account holders, with data dating back to 2019 or earlier.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is also investigating the incidents. Last September, AT&T agreed to pay $13 million to settle an FCC probe into a 2023 data breach involving a cloud vendor that affected 8.9 million wireless customers. The FCC said the exposed data covered customers from 2015 to 2017 and should have been deleted by 2017 or 2018.