Extortion
US broadband provider Brightspeed investigates breach claims
Brightspeed, one of the largest fiber broadband companies in the United States, is investigating security breach and data theft claims made by the Crimson Collective extortion gang. Founded in 2022, the U.S. telecommunications and Internet service provider (ISP) serves rural and suburban communities across 20 states. “We take the security of our networks and protection […]
University of Phoenix data breach impacts nearly 3.5 million individuals
The Clop ransomware gang has stolen the data of nearly 3.5 million University of Phoenix (UoPX) students, staff, and suppliers after breaching the university’s network in August. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, UoPX is a private for-profit university founded in 1976 with over 100,000 enrolled students and nearly 3,000 academic staff. In early December, the university disclosed […]
Clop ransomware targets Gladinet CentreStack in data theft attacks
The Clop ransomware gang (also known as Cl0p) is targeting Internet-exposed Gladinet CentreStack file servers in a new data theft extortion campaign. Gladinet CentreStack enables businesses to securely share files hosted on on-premises file servers through web browsers, mobile apps, and mapped drives without requiring a VPN. According to Gladinet, CentreStack “is used by thousands of businesses from […]
SoundCloud confirms breach after member data stolen, VPN access disrupted
Audio streaming platform SoundCloud has confirmed that outages and VPN connection issues over the past few days were caused by a security breach in which threat actors stole a database exposing users’ email addresses and profile information. The disclosure follows widespread reports over the past four days from users who were unable to access SoundCloud when connecting […]
Askul confirms theft of 740k customer records in ransomware attack
Japanese e-commerce giant Askul Corporation has confirmed that RansomHouse hackers stole around 740,000 customer records in the ransomware attack it suffered in October. Askul is a large business-to-business and business-to-consumer office supplies and logistics e-commerce company owned by Yahoo! Japan Corporation. The ransomware incident in October caused an IT system failure, forcing the company to […]
FinCEN says ransomware gangs extorted over $2.1B from 2022 to 2024
A new report by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shows that ransomware activity peaked in 2023 before falling in 2024, following a series of law enforcement actions targeting the ALPHV/BlackCat and LockBit ransomware gangs. From thousands of Bank Secrecy Act filings, the report documents 4,194 ransomware incidents between January 2022 and December 2024. These reports […]
FBI warns of virtual kidnapping scams using altered social media photos
The FBI warns of criminals altering images shared on social media and using them as fake proof of life photos in virtual kidnapping ransom scams. This is part of a public service announcement published today about criminals contacting victims via text message, claiming to have kidnapped a family member and demanding ransom payments. However, as […]
University of Phoenix discloses data breach after Oracle hack
The University of Phoenix (UoPX) has joined a growing list of U.S. universities breached in a Clop data theft campaign targeting vulnerable Oracle E-Business Suite instances in August 2025. Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, UoPX is a private for-profit university with nearly 3,000 academic staff and over 100,000 enrolled students. The university disclosed the data […]
University of Pennsylvania confirms new data breach after Oracle hack
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) has announced a new data breach after attackers stole documents containing personal information from its Oracle E-Business Suite servers in August. The private Ivy League research university was founded in 1740 and has 5,827 faculty members and 29,109 students, with an 8:1 student-to-faculty ratio. It also has an academic operating […]
Dartmouth College confirms data breach after Clop extortion attack
Dartmouth College has disclosed a data breach after the Clop extortion gang leaked data allegedly stolen from the school’s Oracle E-Business Suite servers on its dark web leak site. The private Ivy League research university, founded in 1769, has an endowment of $9 billion as of June 30, 2025, over 40 academic departments and programs, […]