San Francisco, CAForgive any individual tempted to contact a technology lawyer following the most recent security breach involving major players in the online community, including Yahoo, Gmail and AOL.
The revelation last week that more than 450,000 accounts appeared to have been hacked, exposing user names and passwords, has put more than just online service providers on notice. Rather, the breach to internet privacy has served as a wake-up call to millions of Americans who rely on the internet for banking services and other uses for which highly private and confidential information is both necessary, and assumed completely protected.
The latter doesn’t appear to be the case following the admission last week by a collective of hackers that they had broken into presumably secure accounts using a relatively well-known hacking tool known as SQL injection.
According to various reports, including the New York Times (7/12/12), a hacking collective dubbed D33D appeared to have carried out the deed simply to make a point: that such sites were not as secure as everyone may have thought. "We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat," an online statement from D33D said.
The breach affected, according to various sources, presumably secure data from some 106,000 Gmail e-mail addresses, 55,000 Hotmail e-mail addresses and 25,000 AOL e-mail addresses—among others.
The breach comes just one month after millions of sensitive LinkedIn log ins and passwords were exposed. Such a breach can result in the needless vulnerability to an Internet scam and other unsavory online activity that doesn't stop at identity theft.
Accounts affected included those affiliated with Live.com, Bell South, Verizon, SBC Global, Comcast and Hotmail—along with the aforementioned AOL, Gmail and Yahoo. Companies affected were swift to re-set passwords and other vulnerable data in an effort to tighten security and ease the fears of account users. Google was reported to have immediately reset passwords for any vulnerable Gmail accounts.
Still, what may have private citizens and business people alike running for their e-commerce lawyers were statements by various Internet security denizens who pointed to the relative ease with which the breach was undertaken. "Why haven't organizations like Yahoo got it yet? SQL injection is a known attack," said Mark Bower, a vice president at Voltage Security, in comments published in the New York Times. "If what is stated is true, it's utter negligence to store passwords in the clear."
With e-commerce, financial transactions such as online banking, and the storage and availability of sensitive files such as medical records all residing online, internet privacy is becoming increasingly important, as well as being increasingly taken as a given in this age of a Blackberry-equipped US President. To that end, the fear of internet fraud and a series of significant cracks appearing in the online armor have put millions of people at worry, not to mention prompting a potential call to their IT attorney.
If you or a loved one have suffered losses in a similar case, please click the link below and your complaint will be sent to an internet/technology lawyer who may evaluate your claim at no cost or obligation.
Ihave ben having emails to get job through craigslist. They sent check for me to cash which was more than my pay. The were resprenting places that they were not. One came us mail, which is mail fraud. Other were federal express so you can file fraud. I called 3. Of the business and told them what was happening. There copied their website.
I also have had emails that they want to give mevlarge amount of money because someone has died. I am not to say anything but to the bank that has the money.
Posted by Chris Carlin
on
acer was sued but issue never broched - security - all microsoft os's are not properly configured on new devices, microsoft not at fault because networking training people, stilll but computer manufacturers configure microsoft os with many networking systems turned on, ask a working tech
Posted by Bob Sherbert
on
@Gerald: you were NOT being hacked - your system crashed dude.. you got the Microsoft Screen of Death, as it's known. Get an anti-virus program already, spend the friggin $50 for a downloadable version so your lazy butt doesn't have to goto BestBuy and install it - and WATCH how vulnerable and messed up your system is after you run all the program apps that come with it. Next, install Norton Utilities 15.0 and watch how fast your computer will get. All you dummies don't clear your internet cache or cookies. Then you go on facebook and download or allow these stupid apps like Spotify or Instagram full frickin access to everything so they can easily read your cookies for your passwords & usernames. Wake up people - stop being so trusting on the internet and this crap won't HAPPEN to you! :))
@Rondena: this is just information about potential lawsuits, so in case you were affected, you could request representation. This is not about any one particular suit. Sorry :))
Posted by Inez Spigner-Taylor
on
I have had to change my passwords on my AOL mail account, my hotmail account I closed and my bank accounts because I kept getting emails from myself with links in them. My bank account was hacked when they ordered over $500 worth of stuff from a place in China. I had to change my bank account several times. I don't use that computer anymore
Posted by Traci Reik
on
Gmail e-mail addresses, 55,000 Hotmail e-mail addresses and 25,000 LinkedIn log ins and passwords Verizon, SBC Global Yahoo & Companies affected were swift to re-set passwords and other vulnerable data in an effort to tighten security and ease the fears of account users. Google was reported to have immediately reset passwords for any vulnerable Gmail accounts.
OK, above are Cut & Pastes of the article I read. I have all the aforementioned accounts. I was never notified of account breaches nor were my Account Passwords reset on ANY of these... So, what's a person to do?? Any words of wisdom??
Thanks, End User with No Idea.
Posted by Gerald Green
on
I wrote a lettler to the US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division...complaining about my rights in worker's compensation case, social security disability case, and my auto accident case....how I suspected fraud and demanded investigation in these cases....when i submitted....my screen went black....then numbers and letter were on the screen....i know i was benign hacked....
Posted by Rondena Howard
on
My hotmail/msn was hacked 3 different times in a span of 3 weeks. Is this what this lawsuit is about? Could you please email me and let me know. Thanks
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The revelation last week that more than 450,000 accounts appeared to have been hacked, exposing user names and passwords, has put more than just online service providers on notice. Rather, the breach to internet privacy has served as a wake-up call to millions of Americans who rely on the internet for banking services and other uses for which highly private and confidential information is both necessary, and assumed completely protected.
