US’ Radio Free Asia news outlet suffered a security breach

November 25, 2022
US Radio Free Asia News Outlet Cybersecurity Hacked Data Breach Fraud Prevention

The personal and financial information of 3,779 people has been compromised after the US-based government-funded news outlet Radio Free Asia suffered from a security breach. Some leaked data include people’s Social Security numbers and passport numbers.

In the data breach notification published on the Office of the Maine Attorney General website, the breach on Radio Free Asia happened last June 17 and was discovered on the 28th. The hackers have stolen thousands of people’s data, such as addresses, health insurance data, driver’s license numbers, medical details, and limited financial information.

 

Radio Free Asia said in a statement that they had immediately taken their systems offline after learning of the breach.

 

Following the breach detection on June 28, the news outlet took their systems offline and contained the incident by launching investigations, teaming up with data privacy and security experts, and working with relevant authorities. Radio Free Asia also changed its systems’ passwords and migrated to a new cloud-based email infrastructure.

Based on the news outlet’s investigations, the data breach occurred due to unauthorised access, wherein the hackers had abused a flaw they discovered in a service provider. The organisation had found no evidence of data misuse, although people are advised to be cautious about potential cyberattacks using their stolen data.

The affected victims are also given free credit monitoring for two years to help them be more secure. Radio Free Asia provided no further comments; however, a representative told the media that they had never communicated with the data breach hackers.

Several US law enforcement agencies, including the US Congress, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the United States Agency for Global Media, have already been notified of the incident. These government bodies fund the news outlet organisation via an annual grant.

Some of the Asian countries that Radio Free Asia provides news to include China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, North Korea, and Vietnam. Other news outlets worldwide have also suffered from cyberattacks this year, such as The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Japan’s Nikkei, and the Fast Company.

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