Rex Mundi a Cyber Criminal group who specialise in stealing user data from global companies for extortion claim to have hacked the database for the Dominoes franchises covering France and Belgium, Dominoes have conceded that they have experienced an incident. The criminal gang Rex Mundi have demanded a ransom of £24,000 to prevent the posting on the Internet of the details of 600,000 of Dominoes customers, the stolen information is said to contain usernames, passwords, email and physical addresses, phone numbers and includes information such as the customers’ favourite topping. At the moment it appears that the customer credit card details are still secure.
Rex Mundi have a track record with previous known attacks, in 2012 the group stole and published online loan-applicant details from thousands of users from US payday loan company AmeriCash Advance.
Belgian internet hosting company Alfa Hosting became another of Rex Mundi’s victims suffering a break-in this year leading to the names of 12,000 customers being published online.
So why is this of interest to Tamite IT Support who provide IT support to customers in Sussex and Surrey. Well the answer is it gives me a prime example of how we can link cause and effect and describe how these high profile attacks could be used to target you.
Recently there has been a spate of high profile hackings involving well known brands such as Ebay and Mums Net. In all the cases the credit card details have not been compromised. The reality is that in the world of the Cybercriminal the credit card details are often no longer the primary objective. You can only exploit them for a short time frame. In the world of Cybercrime information is King, as it gives you a commodity you can sell over and over again over a long time frame.
The next time you receive a spam email assuming it evades your spam filter or something through a social networking site that seems to be too close to the mark, try to imagine how they may have gained access to that information.
The quantity of Spam is not the only issue we are faced with, the quality has improved to the point when you would be hard put to distinguish a real message from your bank to a counterfeit and the content is becoming increasingly sophisticated add to this the use of information provided as a result hacking attacks that can be used to make the message more convincing.
See the Tamite IT Support Guide to Social Engineering and Phishing.
Next week when you receive that email enticing you to order your favourite Pizza from Dominoes with just one click of a link, with an extra 20% off with a side order of frogs legs if it is ordered before the weekend. Take a second look and if you have the slightest doubt access Dominoes via a Google search to make sure you are using the legitimate site.
Of course telling you to be on your guard and not to take anything for granted whether the message comes through email or social media is only half of the answer. In my next blog I will discuss the other half of the answer.
If you feel you would like more information on the steps you can take to protect yourself and your business from Cyber crime Tamite IT Support provide IT Security seminars and training aimed at small businesses and individuals in the Haywards Heath, Sussex and Surrey areas.
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