Adobe, best known for the .pdf which virtually runs the Property Preservation Industry’s Work Order formats was hacked in September, breaching source code, credit card info and personal user data. 3 MILLION plus credit card registries were potentially accessed.
Additionally, LexisNexis which fuels a tremendous amount of data for the litigation community (lawyers whom sue people) were additionally hacked. During this hack, Krebs reported that a Company whom allows for Background Checks was additionally hacked. This is CRITICAL to understand due to Aspen Grove Solutions, a foreign national and Member of the National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS) not under the same United States Regulatory Scrutiny for reporting, is entering the scene demanding access for tens of thousands of files on Contractors domestically.
The Web site ssndob[dot]ms (hereafter referred to simply as SSNDOB) has for the past two years marketed itself on underground cybercrime forums as a reliable and affordable service that customers can use to look up SSNs, birthdays and other personal data on any U.S. resident. Prices range from 50 cents to $2.50 per record, and from $5 to $15 for credit and background checks. Customers pay for their subscriptions using largely unregulated and anonymous virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin and WebMoney.
Until very recently, the source of the data sold by SSNDOB has remained a mystery. That mystery began to unravel in March 2013, when teenage hackers allegedly associated with the hacktivist group UGNazi showed just how deeply the service’s access went. The young hackers used SSNDOB to collect data for exposed.su, a Web site that listed the SSNs, birthdays, phone numbers, current and previous addresses for dozens of top celebrities — such as performers Beyonce, Kanye West and Jay Z — as well as prominent public figures, including First Lady Michelle Obama, CIA Director John Brennan, and then-FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Earlier this summer, SSNDOB was compromised by multiple attackers, its own database plundered. A copy of the SSNDOB database was exhaustively reviewed by KrebsOnSecurity.com. The database shows that the site’s 1,300 customers have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars looking up SSNs, birthdays, drivers license records, and obtaining unauthorized credit and background reports on more than four million Americans.
The botnet’s Web-based interface (portions of which are shown below) indicated that the miscreants behind this ID theft service controlled at least five infected systems at different U.S.-based consumer and business data aggregators.
Food for thought as Foreclosurepedia faces intense threats of litigation as we attempt to expose the seedy underbelly of the Property Preservation Industry. Contractors need to ask themselves whether or not this coordinated assault upon the First Amendment; the chilling effects it will ultimately have upon Free Speech, will become the Line in the Sand.
