IT Governance, the global provider of cyber risk and privacy management solutions, found more than 2.2 billion records known to be breached in 1,351 publicly disclosed security incidents in December 2023. This brings the total of breached records in 2023 to over 8.2 billion with 2,814 publicly disclosed security incidents.
The number of records compromised in December shows a staggering 6,998% increase against December 2022, and a 332% increase compared to November 2023.
Three of the biggest data breaches impacted Real Estate Wealth Network, TuneFab and Dori Media Group.
-
Real Estate Wealth Network
New York-based company Real Estate Wealth Network, was informed of an unprotected database exposing more than 1.5 billion records.
Security researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered the database which indicated that the files belonged to Real Estate Wealth Network. The exposed data included information on property owners, sellers, investors, internal user logging data, and more.
The property owners allegedly included numerous celebrities, whose street address; purchase price and date; mortgage company; mortgage loan amount; tax ID numbers; taxes owed, paid or due; and other information was available. Real Estate Wealth Network has since secured the database.
-
TuneFab
TuneFab, a platform that converts music from popular streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and Audible into different formats, exposed more than 151 million data records.
It was discovered that data included sensitive information such as users’ IP addresses, user areas, user IDs, emails and device details.
Security researcher Bob Diachenko identified the leak in September and contacted TuneFab, which fixed the misconfiguration within 24 hours.
-
Dori Media Group
Dori Media Group, an international group of media companies in Israel, Switzerland, Argentina, Spain and Singapore has been threatened by The MalekTeam Group hackers.
MalekTeam claim to have destroyed more than 100 TB of data from Dori Media Group. The hackers are now threatening to leak the exfiltrated data.
Also Read: Top Vulnerability Scanning Tools for Modern Security Teams
Alan Calder, the founder and executive chairman of IT Governance, commented:
“It’s alarming to see such a substantial increase in the number of compromised records, reflecting a persistent and escalating threat to data security. The surge, particularly compared to the same period last year, highlights the evolving tactics of cyber criminals.
“The breaches affecting Real Estate Wealth Network, TuneFab and Dori Media Group show the diverse targets and methods employed by malicious actors using destructive tactics and extortion.
“In the case of Real Estate Wealth Network, the exposure of sensitive details, including those of celebrities, poses not only a privacy risk but also raises concerns about the broader implications of such leaks. It emphasises the need for organisations, regardless of industry, to prioritise robust security measures, including thorough database protection and monitoring.”
“The role of the security researchers who alerted these organisations of the recent cyber security incidents cannot be overstated.
“The key takeaway is the critical importance of a multi-layered, defence-in-depth security approach to prevent and mitigate evolving threats. This includes not only technical safeguards but also ongoing user education and a culture of cyber security awareness within organisations, particularly from leaders and top management, in order to stay one step ahead of these relentless cyber threats.”
For more such updates follow us on Google News ITsecuritywire News. Please subscribe to our Newsletter for more updates.
