Disqus: A network community platform that allows users to blog or comment on other company’s websites. It can be installed as a plug-in or drop-in code. Disqus collects user data on the back end and allows companies to use this information for customer analytics, etc…
Risk to Small Business: Severe:Although roughly 1/3 of the 17.5 million records compromised involved passwords, they happened to be salted/hashed. The company also discovered and announced the breach in a quick manner and notified the affected customers.
Individual Risk: Severe: Those affected by this breach will be at a high risk of identity theft.
Customers Impacted: 5.8million.
How it Could Affect You: The breach involved a large number of customers; however, the database was from 2012 and most credentials could have already been changed. While this is damaging to Disqus’ reputation, they followed protocol and demonstrated how to do breach disclosure the proper way.
Tumblr: A popular blogging website
Risk to Small Business: Severe: While Tumblr deserves some credit for 1. Having a bug bounty program that resulted in catching this bug, and 2. Fixing the bug in less than 12 hours after it was discovered, many customers will not appreciate their personal information being leaked and will react accordingly. Tumblr’s timely response, disclosure of the breach, and its bug bounty program will likely reduce the impact on the business significantly.
Individual Risk: Moderate: Email addresses were leaked so those affected by the breach are at a higher risk of spam.
Customers Impacted: All of the ‘recommend blogs’ shown on Tumblr.
How it Could Affect You: A breach that exposes user information is always going to have a negative effect on business. Customers lose trust in businesses that mishandle their information, but they also respect when a company is making a serious effort to locate vulnerabilities and can handle a problem when it arises with swift action.
In Other News:
The Dark Web Monster
When looking for a job, usually you would check one of the many job hunting sites you see in commercials or circle ads in newspapers (at least at one point you did). Some people do something very similar… but on the Dark Web searching for an illicit job. Many job postings on the Dark Web seem like normal job ads. But when you look closer you will notice that advert for a driver not only needs the person to drive but also transport drugs. The driver would make $1,000 for a week of work, not including the living expense compensation. One of the more lucrative opportunities on the Dark Web job market is the corporate insider. The most common target is financial employees who, in one example, are offered $3,150 to get a loan or increase cash withdrawal limits on a card. Postal workers are also targeted to steal packages.
The Dark Web is lucrative for those willing to risk their job and possibly their freedom for money. Be careful of both insiders and the wide array of illicit software sold there.
