14/04/2021: Cybersecurity & Tech News Roundup

Welcome to Wednesday’s tech news roundup – this is the place where we keep you up to date with the latest technology updates, cybersecurity news, and more. Here’s what’s going on in the tech world today:

An estate agent’s hi-tech house tour led to the home owner’s personal data being exposed

The pandemic has meant that estate agencies have had to embrace tech to give house hunters a good look at properties without being there. For Fowlers Estate Agency though, the overview of the home was so detailed that the home owner’s personal information was on display.

This took place due to a 3D house tour for a home in Devon, where you simply had to zoom in on certain parts of the image to read through the owner’s financial documents. The property was live on Rightmove, and exposed unblurred images of a dividend cheque, an insurance policy document, and an invoice – something that the home owner and the letting agency’s staff didn’t realise until it was much too late. Read more here.

SolarWinds has spent over $18 million attempting to recover from their cyber-attack

Before there was the Microsoft Exchange Server hack, SolarWinds was the name on everybody’s lips, as the company’s data breach in late 2020 had massive consequences for countless organisations – from big businesses to US government divisions. Over the past few months, the software company has spent over $18 million in an attempt to recover. This huge sum has been spent on thoroughly investigating and remediating the vulnerabilities that led to the breach.

SolarWinds had this to say: “We expect to incur significant legal and other professional services expenses associated with the Cyber Incident in future periods,” meaning the cost of this unfortunate situation is only going to increase over the course of the year. Read more here.

Two casinos in Tasmania have been hit by Windows ransomware

Both of Tasmania’s casinos were hit with ransomware earlier this month, affecting not only the Federal Group owned Wrest Point and Country Club casinos, but also the hotels that managed by the same organisation. While this has affected booking systems and caused disruption, the business is showing resilience by refusing to close and conducting a thorough investigation into how their systems were breached.

The ransomware in question is likely to be REvil – a particularly nasty strain that targets Windows 10 machines, booting users out of their accounts and changing login passwords. This notorious malware was first discovered in 2019 and has been causing chaos ever since. Read more here.

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