27/04/2021: Cybersecurity & Tech News Roundup

Australian healthcare provider UnitingCare has fallen victim to a cyber incident

UnitingCare Queensland is the latest healthcare provider to fall victim to a cyber attack, as hackers have been mercilessly targeting hospitals worldwide over the past couple of years. UnitingCare provides everything from healthcare, to disability support, emergency services, and elderly care, so it's hard to imagine that threat actors would target an organisation like this. Unfortunately though, nobody is off-limits when hackers are seeking to cause chaos and/or profit.

The cyber incident has left some of the hospital's digital systems completely inaccessible, and while manual backup processes are in place, in some cases patients will have to be referred to neighbouring providers in order to get the care they need. As the issue took place very recently, UnitingCare can't currently provide an accurate resolution timeframe, but it's reported the incident to the Australian Cybersecurity Centre (Australia's version of the NCSC) and is working with InfoSec professionals to get everything up and running ASAP. Read more here.

Which? has blasted Facebook and Google for not doing enough to counter scam ads

Big tech firms Facebook and Google are in hot water yet again. This time, consumer watchdog Which? has criticised the two platforms for failing to remove online scam adverts. Google failed to take down 34% of the fraudulent ads reported to it, and Facebook wasn't far behind with 26% of scams still live on the platform after being reported. Both companies have policies against posting fake and fraudulent adverts to their platforms, but clearly some scammers are slipping through the net.

Which?'s report found that 43% of consumers who had fallen victim to scam ads on Facebook and/or Google didn't report them, largely because they didn't think anything would be done. As a result, the consumer watchdog suggested that both organisations need to be more proactive in order to improve user confidence. Read more here.

Reverb's recent data breach has resulted in the exposure of 5.6 million records

Reverb is a digital marketplace for music instruments - think of it as like Depop but with more pianos and clarinets - and it's very popular, boasting a huge user base. Unfortunately, the platform recently experienced a data breach, exposing 5.6 million records, and no doubt causing a blow to Reveb's reputation. A database containing personal info on millions of its customers was accidentally leaked online. Even though Reverb's IT team secured the database immediately as soon as they realised what had happened, there's still a chance that nefarious parties may have got hold of the data. Reverb is currently contacting customers to alert them to the breach, and is suggesting they change their passwords ASAP. Read more here.

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