Monthly Roundup of Top Cybersecurity News & Stories

Welcome to another edition of the Monthly Roundup of top cybersecurity news and stories. This is the place where you will find highly valuable information about the latest happenings in the cybersecurity field from across the world. Read on to find what happened in August 2023.

1. UK Electoral Commission Data Breach

In a major announcement, the UK Electoral Commission disclosed that personal data of citizens who registered between 2014 to 2022 have been exposed via data breach incident. The threat actor breached the system way back in August 2021. The Commission detected the breach last year and 2022. Many experts questioned why the incident wasn’t reported earlier.

2. Discord.io Breach

The custom invite service Discord.io reported that 7,60,000 members’ data leaked due to a data breach. Recently, the database was put for sale in hacking forums. It is believed that sensitive information such as username, email address, billing address, hashed passwords are revealed. In response to the incident,

Discord.io has started shutting down its services for the foreseeable future.

3. French Government Agency Data Breach

Unemployment registration and financial aid agency of French government informed that data of 10 million people registered with them have been leaked.

According to reports, the data is still available. The exposed data includes names, social security number, email addresses, phone numbers, passwords and banking data too. The agency has already cautioned its members.

4. Wireshark and Kali Linum Updated Versions Released

In an exciting development for cyber security professionals, Wireshark and Kali Linux released their updated versions for use. Wireshark is a widely popular free and open source packet analyser software, helping in network troubleshooting, software protocol development, education and much more. Kali Linux is also an open source software that helps in ethical hacking and penetration testing operations.

5. DuoLingo User Information Leaked

DuoLingo is a leading language learning platform based out of the US. This month, a hacking forum posted information of about 2.5 million customers. However, the company has denied any data breach as of now.

6. Kroll Data Breach

This week, one of the leading cyber security companies, Kroll was targeted by cybercriminals. A new sophisticated means of attack called SIM swapping was used to carry out the cyber-attack and gain access to personal data.

The new method involved convincing a mobile carrier to transfer phone number to threat actor’s device. After the attack discovery, actions were taken to secure affected accounts immediately.

7. ChatGPT Released with Data Encryption and Compliant

ChatGPT released a new enterprise version of its tool. The company claims that the latest version is SOC 2 Compliant and powered by enterprise-grade security and privacy. In addition, it includes data encryption. So, what do you make of the latest cybersecurity incidents and events that came to light in the month of August 2023? Comment your thoughts below. Let us know if we missed anything. We will see you next month for another edition of the Monthly Round of Top Cybersecurity News. Take care!