Korean Hack Leads Breach Roundup

Mobile Carrier Breached; Dropbox E-Mail Compromised
Korean Hack Leads Breach Roundup

In this week's breach roundup, two hackers were arrested for stealing information on 8 million customers of KT Corp., South Korea's second largest mobile carrier. Also, online file service Dropbox said e-mail addresses were compromised, resulting in increased spam for users.

See Also: Why Active Directory (AD) Protection Matters

Korean Hack Affects 8 Million

Two hackers have been arrested for stealing information on 8 million KT Corp. customers. KT Corp. is South Korea's second largest mobile carrier. The hackers gained access to KT Corp.'s network and stole the information, according to the Yonhap News Agency, a Korean media outlet. The data leak started as early as February, the news report said.

Information about the carrier's subscribers exposed in the data breach includes name, phone number, membership number, personal identification number and mobile phone serial number, according to The Korea Herald.

Dropbox Breach Results in Spam

Online file service Dropbox is reporting a breach that affected user e-mail addresses, resulting in an increase in spam messages. In a blog post, the company says that usernames and passwords from other websites were stolen, some of which were used to sign in to Dropbox accounts. One of the stolen passwords was used to access an employee's account, which contained a project document with user e-mail addresses, the blog notes. "We believe this improper access is what led to the spam," the posting explains.

Dropbox did not specify how many e-mail addresses were affected. The company says it's taking steps to improve security, such as implementing two-factor authentication and launching new automated mechanisms to identify suspicious activity.

8,400 Patients Affected in NYU Breach

An unencrypted desktop computer containing personal health information on about 8,400 patients was stolen from an office at New York University's Langone Medical Center. The computer was taken from the Faculty Group Practice office, according to a medical center statement.

Langone is offering identity theft protection to 5,000 patients whose Social Security numbers may have been compromised, the statement explains. Other compromised information included name, address, date of birth, telephone number, insurance information and clinical information.

Six Computers Missing from Hospice

Six laptop and tablet computer devices were stolen from Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Home Hospice offices in Chicago. At the time of the robbery, the devices were undergoing software upgrades, suspending standard laptop security controls, Northwestern explains in a statement.

Compromised information includes patients' full names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, medical treatment profiles, diagnoses, medications, health insurance groups and policy numbers.

Northwestern has not yet revealed how many patients were affected. The hospice is providing affected patients with a credit bureau monitoring service to catch irregularities, the statement notes.

Insider Steals Patient Records

The Hillsborough County Health Department in Tampa, Fla., reports that an employee intentionally printed documents containing information on 300 patients without authorization earlier this year. The information included, name, date of birth, Social Security number and protected health information. No financial information was included, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Several people in Georgia were arrested in May with partial copies of the documents printed by the employee. Georgia and Florida officials aren't sure if there's a connection between the employee and the Georgia suspects, the newspaper reported.


About the Author

Jeffrey Roman

Jeffrey Roman

News Writer, ISMG

Roman is the former News Writer for Information Security Media Group. Having worked for multiple publications at The College of New Jersey, including the College's newspaper "The Signal" and alumni magazine, Roman has experience in journalism, copy editing and communications.




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