T-Mobile Data Breach | How to Protect Yourself
On August 16th, 2021, T-Mobile confirmed a data breach occurred within its systems. The hacker responsible for the breach was able to access data on over 50 million T-Mobile customers.
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Feds Stop Robocall Operation of More Than 45 million Spam Phone Calls
In a small win for the war to stop robocalls, The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently cracked down on three New Jersey brothers responsible for more than 45 million illegal robocalls.
CBS News says the offenders will pay $1.6 million in settlement charges.
According to the news article, most of these robocalls were made to consumers already on the FTC’s Do Not Call registry.
What to Do if Your Data Has Been Stolen
As more and more of the world shifts online during the COVID-19 pandemic, data security has become a chief concern. Any time you supply personal and/or financial information online, whether to pay bills, to make purchases, or to utilize online medical services, you are entrusting these companies to safeguard your identity. Bad actors are constantly looking to take advantage your important data.
The burdens of falling victim to a data breach can be wide-reaching, from lost money to difficulty applying to receive unemployment benefits and other COVID-related relief to adverse effects on your credit score to theft of tax refunds. These burdens can also take months if not years to manifest. It can often feel overwhelming, not even knowing where to begin to look for help.
Major Universities Face Class Action Suits Over Lack of Tuition Refunds
As the coronavirus pandemic swept across the United States, many universities closed their campuses to students. These actions were an appropriate response to the necessity of social distancing and limiting large gatherings. The result of these actions was that students found themselves in the lurch for the remainder of the spring semester. Most schools transitioned their student bodies to online instruction, hoping to offer a facsimile of the on-campus experience. However, many students have found these offerings lacking when compared to the on-campus experience.
Students, many of whom paid tens of thousands of dollars in tuition and other associated fees, found themselves hoping for a reasonable refund since the schools were no longer providing the services they paid for. Unfortunately, many universities have provided inadequate relief, arguing that the (often hastily assembled) online learning experience has been comparable. Many students find this difficult to accept, particularly those whose fields of study rely heavily on in-person instructions in labs and studios. The same education is simply not possible when done online.
Anderson+Wanca Secures $15,000,000 Settlement in Spam Text Litigation
Customers may know Tilly’s as a shopping mall staple selling clothes and shoes for a southern California lifestyle. But the chain, with over 200 stores nationwide, got a little too aggressive in trying to recruit new and returning customers and ran afoul of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
Tilly’s denies these allegations but still entered into a nationwide settlement that brought direct relief to over 615,000 people who received an unsolicited text message.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act was initially passed by Congress in 1991, to give consumers legal options to stop the onslaught of telemarketing calls to their household phones. The statute has been amended numerous times and now applies to cell phones and text messages as well.
Wyndham Data Breaches: What You Need To Know
Between 2008 and 2009, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts was successfully hacked three times. Rather than the scenario resembling an arms race however, with increasingly proficient hackers up against Wyndham’s increasingly elaborate cyber security, the hackers used similar methods in all three data breaches.
LinkedIn Data Breach: What You Need To Know
The most recent 2016 LinkedIn data breach is a continuation of the original data breach that occurred in 2012. At the time, LinkedIn’s investigation revealed 6.5 million stolen username and password combinations, and took precautionary measures to re-secure those accounts.
On May 19th however, a Russian hacker with the moniker “Peace” was confirmed to be selling a database of 117 million usernames and passwords from the 2012 data breach, making it clear that the scope of the original incident was far wider than users had been led to be believe.