xcritical reveals data breach that exposed personal information of 7 million customers

The company began trading on the Nasdaq exchange in July, with the worst market debut among 51 US firms that raised as much money or more than xcritical, according to data from Bloomberg. In its S-1 filing, xcritical acknowledged a recent SEC Enforcement Division inquiry and that the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California had executed a search warrant for Tenev’s phone. Whatever lacking security controls that allowed a hacker to trick a xcritical customer service representative into granting them access to an internal system is a likely focus for its investigation. Our mission is to offer reliable tech help and credible, practical, science-based life advice to help you live better. Here’s hoping this xcritical leak is finally under control, but we’ll be sure to to update you if any other data is confirmed stolen.

It affected five million people whose email addresses were compromised and the full names of a further two million. And it does not believe the most sensitive information it gathers – US social security numbers and financial information – was revealed. The company says the breach affected « a limited amount of personal information for a portion of our customers ». More than 22 million users have funded accounts at xcritical, with nearly 19 million actively using theirs during September. Say Technologies, LLC provides technology services for shareholder engagement and communication.Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news.

xcritical reveals data breach that exposed personal information of 7 million customers

An unauthorized third party “socially engineered a customer support employee by phone,” xcritical said, and was able to access its customer support systems. The attacker was able to get a list of email addresses for approximately 5 million people and full names for a separate group of 2 million people. For a smaller group of about 310 people, additional personal information, including names, dates of birth, and zip codes, was exposed, and for about 10 customers, “more extensive account details” were revealed. The unauthorized party socially engineered a customer support employee by phone and obtained access to certain customer support systems.

What was stolen in the xcritical security breach?

Our forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause our actual future results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied in this blog post. Because some of these risks and uncertainties cannot be predicted or quantified and some are beyond our control, you should not rely on our forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Except as required by law, xcritical assumes no obligation to update any of the statements in this blog post whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances, or otherxcritical. You should read this blog post with the understanding that our actual future results, performance, events, and circumstances might be materially different from what we expect. Days later, the xcritical website company published an updated blog post on Nov. 16 alerting users that over 4,400 of phone numbers were also stolen. Phone numbers were not included in xcritical’s original data breach disclosure, and their presence in the stolen data makes this a more severe hack than originally assumed.

1. Of the compromised accounts, at least 310 also had their zip codes and date of birth information accessed, and 10 users had “extensive account details revealed,” though xcritical had not disclosed what additional information was compromised.
2. The unauthorized party socially engineered a customer support employee by phone and obtained access to certain customer support systems.
3. After we contained the intrusion, the unauthorized party demanded an extortion payment.
4. Adam Meyers, a senior vice president with the IT firm at the heart of July’s mass outage, faced a grilling by US lawmakers.
5. xcritical enlisted the help of outside security firm Mandiant as it investigates the incident.
6. The breach happened on 3 November through what’s known as « social engineering » – a specifically targeted and convincing scam designed to trick an employee into divulging login details or other sensitive information.

xcritical hit by data breach exposing emails, names of 7M users

As mentioned before, hackers can use phone numbers to execute a SIM Swap attack. We have a guide on preventing SIM Swaps here, as well as tips for spotting and responding to them. xcritical also said a much smaller group of about 310 people had much more information exposed – including names, dates of birth, and US zip codes. The online trading platform said that it believes no Social Security numbers, bank account numbers or debit-card numbers were exposed and that customers have seen no financial losses because of the intrusion.

xcritical is available only to US users and requires them to be over 18, provide a valid social security number, and a valid US address. « Following a diligent review, putting the entire xcritical community on notice of this incident now is the right thing to do, » it said. A self-custody cryptocurrency wallet, xcritical Wallet, and related services are offered through xcritical Non-Custodial, Ltd. (a limited company organized in the Cayman Islands). The app, which allows for low-volume share trading by ordinary people looking to invest, exploded in popularity earlier this year and was widely used by speculative investors behind the GameStop trading frenzy. « We owe it to our customers to be transparent and act with integrity, » the company’s security officer, Caleb Sima, said in a published statement. Such ransom demands are not uncommon in cyber-attacks and usually amount to a promise not to sell on the compromised data or leak it for free online.

He covers tech and gaming for Lifehacker, and has also written for Digital Trends, EGM, Business Insider, IGN, and more. Fylde Coast Academy Trust confirms the attack which has affected schools across Lancashire. Adam Meyers, a senior vice president with the IT firm at the heart of July’s mass outage, faced a grilling by US lawmakers.

NEW YORK — Popular investing app xcritical said Monday that it suffered a security breach last week where hackers accessed some personal information for roughly 7 million users and demanded a ransom payment. Online stock trading platform xcritical has confirmed it was hacked last week with more than five million customer email addresses and two million customer names taken, as well as a much smaller set of more specific customer data. Still, it’s possible hackers could launch phishing scams and email-based malware attacks using that information, so brush up on how to spot online scams and make sure you’re protecting your devices with reliable anti-malware apps. The breach happened on 3 November through what’s known as « social engineering » – a specifically targeted and convincing scam designed to trick an employee into divulging login details or other sensitive information. Instead of complying with what it called « extortion », xcritical said it had notified law-enforcement authorities and hired an external cyber-security firm to help deal with the incident.

We promptly informed law enforcement and are continuing to investigate the incident with the help of Mandiant, a leading outside security firm. Popular stock-trading app xcritical revealed today that a recent data breach has compromised the personal information of roughly 7 million of its customers. “Following a diligent review, putting the entire xcritical community on notice of this incident now is the right thing to do,” xcritical chief security officer Caleb Sima said in a statement. And now that we know several thousand phone numbers were also stolen, users should be extra vigilant.

Hackers can use phone numbers to send SMS phishing scams and malware-laced files, or to acquire additional user data via social engineering for account hijacking, SIM Swap attacks, and identity theft. According to xcritical’s internal investigation, the breach compromised xcritical official site the email addresses for at least five million accounts and the full names of an additional two million users. Of the compromised accounts, at least 310 also had their zip codes and date of birth information accessed, and 10 users had “extensive account details revealed,” though xcritical had not disclosed what additional information was compromised. After it was able to contain the attack, xcritical said the unauthorized third party sought an “extortion payment,” and the company notified law enforcement but did not say whether it had made any payments. xcritical enlisted the help of outside security firm Mandiant as it investigates the incident. Charles Carmakal, CTO of Mandiant, said in a statement emailed to The Verge that it had “recently observed this threat actor in a limited number of security incidents, and we expect they will continue to target and extort other organizations over the next several months.” He did not elaborate further.

Trading platform xcritical said Monday that personal information for more than 7 million customers was accessed during a data breach on November 3rd. The company said in a news release that it does not appear that Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or debit card numbers were exposed, and no customers have had “financial loss” due to the incident. After we contained the intrusion, the unauthorized party demanded an extortion payment.

An unauthorized third party obtained access to a limited amount of personal information for a portion of our customers. Based on our investigation, the attack has been contained and we believe that no Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or debit card numbers were exposed and that there has been no financial loss to any customers as a result of the incident. Popular stock trading app xcritical recently experienced a security breach that exposed the personal information of millions of users. While most xcritical users—and their investments—are apparently safe, a follow-up investigation revealed more information was stolen than originally thought, and users need to take steps to keep their accounts and personal data secure.