Australia's largest home builder Metricon Homes confirms Qilin ransomware attack exposing 128GB of sensitive data including financial documents and architectural plans. Meanwhile, Orange France detects cyberattack affecting internal systems, disrupting services for 290 million customers.
Cyber attacks are no longer just data grabs. They are strategic tools of economic warfare. From factory sabotage to stolen identities and regulatory pressure, these breaches now aim to destabilize industries, drain trust, and reshape global power. The cost is not just money. It is control.
Russia's Aeroflot airline cancels 40+ flights after Silent Crow hackers claim year-long infiltration. Meanwhile, Ohio's Kettering Health confirms Interlock ransomware attack exposed patient data including Social Security numbers and medical records.
Women's dating safety app Tea suffers major data breach exposing 72,000 user photos including selfies and ID verification images. Meanwhile, Allianz Life confirms data breach affecting majority of its 1.4 million US customers via social engineering.
Cyber News Centre's cyber update for 28th July 2025: Women's dating safety app Tea has disclosed a major data breach exposing over 72,000 user photos including sensitive identification images. Meanwhile, Allianz Life Insurance has confirmed a data breach affecting the majority of its 1.4 million US customers through a social engineering attack on third-party systems.
Tea is a women-only dating safety platform that allows users to anonymously review and discuss men they are dating. The app, which has reached 4 million users, positions itself as a secure space for women to share dating experiences and seek advice while maintaining anonymity and preventing screenshots of conversations.
Update: On Friday, July 25, 2025, Tea confirmed that hackers gained unauthorized access to one of its data storage systems, compromising approximately 72,000 user photos. The breach exposed 13,000 highly sensitive images including selfies and government-issued ID verification photos used for account authentication, plus 59,000 additional images from public posts. The attack specifically targeted data stored before February 24, 2024, when the company required photo ID verification as a safety measure to ensure only women could join the platform.
Why it Matters: This breach represents a particularly devastating privacy violation for women seeking dating safety resources, as the exposed images include government identification documents that could enable identity theft and targeted harassment. The leak of verification selfies and ID photos creates significant risks for users who trusted the platform with their most sensitive personal information while seeking protection from dating dangers.
For the millions of women using dating safety apps, this incident highlights the critical vulnerability of platforms that collect biometric and identification data, potentially deterring users from seeking digital safety tools and leaving them more exposed to dating-related risks.
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America is a subsidiary of German insurance giant Allianz SE, providing life insurance, annuities, and retirement planning services to approximately 1.4 million customers across the United States.
Update: On July 16, 2025, threat actors gained unauthorized access to a third-party cloud-based CRM system used by Allianz Life through sophisticated social engineering techniques. The breach compromised personal data for the majority of the company's 1.4 million US customers, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and policy information.
Company spokesperson Brett Weinberg confirmed that attackers "fooled the system, not the servers," emphasizing that Allianz's internal systems remained secure while the external CRM vendor was compromised.
Why it Matters: This incident highlights the growing vulnerability of third-party vendor relationships in the insurance sector, where sensitive financial and personal data is increasingly stored across multiple cloud platforms. The successful social engineering attack demonstrates how cybercriminals are shifting tactics from technical exploits to human manipulation, making traditional security controls less effective.
For the 1.4 million affected customers, the breach exposes them to identity theft, financial fraud, and targeted phishing campaigns. The incident underscores the critical need for enhanced vendor security assessments and comprehensive third-party risk management programs, particularly in financial services where customer trust and regulatory compliance are paramount.
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Australia's largest home builder Metricon Homes confirms Qilin ransomware attack exposing 128GB of sensitive data including financial documents and architectural plans. Meanwhile, Orange France detects cyberattack affecting internal systems, disrupting services for 290 million customers.
Russia's Aeroflot airline cancels 40+ flights after Silent Crow hackers claim year-long infiltration. Meanwhile, Ohio's Kettering Health confirms Interlock ransomware attack exposed patient data including Social Security numbers and medical records.
Heart Research Australia responds to website malware affecting donation systems while NASCAR confirms Medusa ransomware attack exposed names and Social Security numbers of racing fans in $4 million extortion demand.
Terry Ringland Chartered Accountants in NSW falls victim to INC Ransom attack disrupting accounting services. Meanwhile, Prestige Maintenance USA notifies 65,452 people of ransomware breach by Medusa gang demanding $1.2 million.
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