An anonymous computer hacker has demanded Attack.Ransom US $ 5000 from a provincial high school to return course work they are holding for ransom Attack.Ransom . Hāwera High School staff in South Taranaki switched on their computers on Monday to discover a message demanding payment Attack.Ransom for the return of encrypted data on a server containing students ' work and teaching resources , principal Rachel Williams said . The hack Attack.Databreach did not affect student and staff records but the entire school network was taken offline as a precaution . The only devices being used at the school are running off their own data or a hotspot from a mobile phone , she said.Forensics experts from the police , Ministry of Education and the school 's network provider were all working to find the source of the intrusion .

New statements from Apple make it clear that they do not believe a hacker , or group of hackers , breached any of their systems . This comes after a recent report from Motherboard that a hacker gang called the `` Turkish Crime Family '' is threatening to remotely wipe up to 559 million iPhones by April 7 . The hackers claim they hold an alleged cache of stolen accounts , and their goal is to shake down Attack.Ransom the big Apple for $ 75,000 in Bitcoin or Ethereum cryptocurrency . Alternatively , in lieu of those options , they will even accept Attack.Ransom $ 100,000 in iTunes gift cards ( a potentially risky option for them ) . Apple responded to the allegation that the hackers breached Attack.Databreach its systems , assuring their systems were not compromised Attack.Databreach , but did not confirm if the hackers do in fact hold Attack.Databreach an entire collection of Apple IDs and passwords . Whatever information they do have , probably came from previously comprised third-parties . `` If the list is legitimate , it was not obtained Attack.Databreach through any hack Attack.Databreach of Apple , '' an Apple spokesperson told Fortune in an email . `` There have not been any breaches Attack.Databreach in any of Apple 's systems including iCloud and Apple ID . '' Even if the data did n't come from an Apple breach Attack.Databreach , it could still mean your iCloud login details are out there . Fortune suggested that the logins could be from the LinkedIn hack Attack.Databreach , in which login info from 117 million accounts was sold on the black market site `` The Real Deal . '' Though , if the Turkish Crime Family really has 559 million accounts , well , a mere fraction of the 117 million from LinkedIn does n't really cut it . The hackers have been sending login information to media companies in an effort to gather attention to their scam . For example , The Next Web received a small fraction of the alleged data from the hackers , and cross-referenced the info with the site Have I Been Pwned , which checks to see if your email or username has been compromised Attack.Databreach in a hack . Most of the samples provided to TNW do n't appear to have been involved in the LinkedIn hack or other hacks in the Pwned database , but TNW was able to access Attack.Databreach the accounts with the login information provided by the hackers , so the info looks legitimate . They ca n't test every login , so the small sample may not be indicative of the whole . The Turkish Crime Family also noted to TNW that all conversations with Apple were actually kept private and never reported to Motherboard . Instead , the conversation between the Turkish Crime Family and Motherboard were led by a member that has now been removed for his `` inaccuracy '' and `` lack of professionalism , '' an the group denies the authenticity of Motherboard 's report . Overall , the hacking team seems to have a hard time sticking to one story . Now , the hacker group is confirming Apple 's statement that its systems have not been breached Attack.Databreach , and that the stolen data was obtained Attack.Databreach through previously compromised systems over the last five years . The Turkish Crime Family is , in fact , not contradicting Apple . They did not breach Attack.Databreach the company , nor did they ever state to Motherboard that they stole Attack.Databreach the info directly from Apple . Rather , after Motherboard 's breaking March 21 report , a breach was assumed by some news outlets such as BGR , though most media sites never directly stated that the hackers breached Apple . The Turkish Crime Family 's initial response to Motherboard , and the group 's only statement , was to extort Attack.Ransom Apple over an alleged cache of iCloud and other Apple email accounts . The group never stated where their cache of data came from until today when they contacted TNW in response to Apple .

New statements from Apple make it clear that they do not believe a hacker , or group of hackers , breached any of their systems . This comes after a recent report from Motherboard that a hacker gang called the `` Turkish Crime Family '' is threatening to remotely wipe up to 559 million iPhones by April 7 . The hackers claim they hold an alleged cache of stolen accounts , and their goal is to shake down Attack.Ransom the big Apple for $ 75,000 in Bitcoin or Ethereum cryptocurrency . Alternatively , in lieu of those options , they will even accept Attack.Ransom $ 100,000 in iTunes gift cards ( a potentially risky option for them ) . Apple responded to the allegation that the hackers breached Attack.Databreach its systems , assuring their systems were not compromised Attack.Databreach , but did not confirm if the hackers do in fact hold Attack.Databreach an entire collection of Apple IDs and passwords . Whatever information they do have , probably came from previously comprised third-parties . `` If the list is legitimate , it was not obtained Attack.Databreach through any hack Attack.Databreach of Apple , '' an Apple spokesperson told Fortune in an email . `` There have not been any breaches Attack.Databreach in any of Apple 's systems including iCloud and Apple ID . '' Even if the data did n't come from an Apple breach Attack.Databreach , it could still mean your iCloud login details are out there . Fortune suggested that the logins could be from the LinkedIn hack Attack.Databreach , in which login info from 117 million accounts was sold on the black market site `` The Real Deal . '' Though , if the Turkish Crime Family really has 559 million accounts , well , a mere fraction of the 117 million from LinkedIn does n't really cut it . The hackers have been sending login information to media companies in an effort to gather attention to their scam . For example , The Next Web received a small fraction of the alleged data from the hackers , and cross-referenced the info with the site Have I Been Pwned , which checks to see if your email or username has been compromised Attack.Databreach in a hack . Most of the samples provided to TNW do n't appear to have been involved in the LinkedIn hack or other hacks in the Pwned database , but TNW was able to access Attack.Databreach the accounts with the login information provided by the hackers , so the info looks legitimate . They ca n't test every login , so the small sample may not be indicative of the whole . The Turkish Crime Family also noted to TNW that all conversations with Apple were actually kept private and never reported to Motherboard . Instead , the conversation between the Turkish Crime Family and Motherboard were led by a member that has now been removed for his `` inaccuracy '' and `` lack of professionalism , '' an the group denies the authenticity of Motherboard 's report . Overall , the hacking team seems to have a hard time sticking to one story . Now , the hacker group is confirming Apple 's statement that its systems have not been breached Attack.Databreach , and that the stolen data was obtained Attack.Databreach through previously compromised systems over the last five years . The Turkish Crime Family is , in fact , not contradicting Apple . They did not breach Attack.Databreach the company , nor did they ever state to Motherboard that they stole Attack.Databreach the info directly from Apple . Rather , after Motherboard 's breaking March 21 report , a breach was assumed by some news outlets such as BGR , though most media sites never directly stated that the hackers breached Apple . The Turkish Crime Family 's initial response to Motherboard , and the group 's only statement , was to extort Attack.Ransom Apple over an alleged cache of iCloud and other Apple email accounts . The group never stated where their cache of data came from until today when they contacted TNW in response to Apple .

Family genealogy and DNA testing site MyHeritage announced on Monday a security breach Attack.Databreach during which an attacker made off with account details for over 92 million MyHeritage users . In a statement on its website , MyHeritage said it became aware of the incident on Monday , the same day of the announcement . The incident came to light after a security researcher found an archive on a third-party server containing the personal details of 92,283,889 MyHeritage users . Only emails and hashed password were exposed Attack.Databreach . The archive contained only emails and hashed passwords , but not payment card details or DNA test result . MyHeritage says it uses third-party payment processors for financial operations , meaning payment data was never stored on its systems , while DNA test results were saved on separate servers from the one that managed user accounts . Based on the creation dates of some accounts , the breach appears to have taken place on October 26 , 2017 . It is unclear if the breach is the result of a hacker attack or because of a malicious employee selling the company 's data . MyHeritage says that user accounts are safe , as the passwords were hashed using a per-user unique cryptographic key . `` MyHeritage does not store user passwords , but rather a one-way hash of each password , in which the hash key differs for each customer , '' the company said . `` Since Oct 26 , 2017 ( the date of the breach ) and the present we have not seen any activity indicating that any MyHeritage accounts had been compromised Attack.Databreach . '' The company announced the breach in the same day it found out about it because of the EU 's GDPR legislation that forces companies activating in the EU to disclose any security incident within three days of finding out . MyHeritage says it has now reached out to a cyber-security firm to help it investigate the breach severity and what other systems the hacker might have accessed . MyHeritage to roll out 2FA The company also promised to roll out a two-factor authentication ( 2FA ) feature for user accounts , so even if the hacker manages to decrypt the hashed passwords , these would be useless without the second-step verification code . It goes without saying that MyHeritage users should change their passwords as soon as possible . The MyHeritage incident marks the biggest data breach Attack.Databreach of the year , and the biggest leak Attack.Databreach since last year 's Equifax hack Attack.Databreach .

On the one hand , it gives them a bit of plausible deniability while reaping the potential spoils of each attack , but if the hackers are n't kept on a tight leash things can turn bad . Karim Baratov , the 22-year-old Canadian hacker who the FBI alleges Russia 's state security agency hired to carry out the Yahoo breach , did n't care much for a low profile . His Facebook and Instagram posts boasted of the million-dollar house he bought in a Toronto suburb and there were numerous pictures of him with expensive sports cars -- the latest an Aston Martin DB9 with the license plate `` MR KARIM . '' But forget those for a moment and consider he was n't very careful in hiding his hacking work . In the domain name records , he listed his home address . “ When you bring in amateurs who don ’ t follow standard protocol , that carries risk , ” said Alex Holden , chief information security officer at Hold Security . At the time , the company notified the FBI but only believed 26 accounts had been targeted . It was n't until mid 2016 that the true enormity of the hack started to become apparent . Security experts say it ’ s possible Baratov or a second hacker hired to help might have bragged online about the hack at some point , tipping off U.S. investigators . And then in August 2016 a database allegedly stolen Attack.Databreach from Yahoo was found circulating Attack.Databreach on the black market . “ Some of the information about this hack Attack.Databreach was basically leaked Attack.Databreach , ” Holden said . “ That ’ s not a sign of a mature intelligence operation ” . So why did Russia turn to a 22-year-old from Canada ? According to the indictment , Baratov broke into the accounts through spear phishing email attacks Attack.Phishing , which are often designed to dupe Attack.Phishing victims into handing over password information . However , spear phishing Attack.Phishing only works best if the emails appear authentic . “ The benefit of having Karim , the Canadian , on the team probably allowed creation of far more believable phishing attacks Attack.Phishing due to his being a native English speaker , ” said Chester Wisniewski , a research scientist at security firm Sophos , in an email . In addition to Baratov , the Russian agents allegedly hired a 29-year-old Latvian named Aleksey Belan , who pulled off the main hack against Attack.Databreach Yahoo , and stole Attack.Databreach the database involving 500 million user accounts . By outsourcing the operation to Belan , Russia probably wanted to conceal the true motives for the Yahoo breach , Wisniewski said . Prior to Wednesday ’ s indictment , Belan himself was already a wanted man for hacks against U.S. e-commerce companies . “ There is also the ‘ cover ’ of criminal actions to potentially obfuscate the spying that was allegedly the real purpose ” . In response to Wednesday 's criminal indictments by the FBI , the Russian government is denying any involvement , and calling the allegations a distraction . Baratov , who has been arrested in Canada , is also claiming innocence , according to his lawyer . But if the allegations are true , it does show one example of how Russia is harnessing the power of cybercriminals for spying purposes -- and how it can get sloppy

Apple is reassuring customers that its systems have not been breached Attack.Databreach while a hacker , or hackers , threaten to remotely wipe hundreds of millions iPhones of all their data , including photos , videos , and messages . The hackers are using an alleged cache of stolen email accounts and passwords as leverage in an attempt to extort Attack.Ransom the world ’ s most valuable company . They claim to have access Attack.Databreach to as many as 559 million Apple email and iCloud accounts , Vice blog Motherboard reported on Tuesday . The group , calling itself “ Turkish Crime Family , ” said it would delete its alleged list of compromised login credentials only after Apple pays Attack.Ransom it $ 75,000 in cryptocurrency , either Bitcoin or rival Ether , or $ 100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards , Motherboard reported . The group has given Apple ( aapl ) a deadline of April 7 to meet its demands . Though Apple has not officially confirmed the authenticity of the data that the hackers say they have , an Apple spokesperson told Fortune in an emailed statement that , if the list is legitimate , it was not obtained Attack.Databreach through any hack Attack.Databreach of Apple . “ There have not been any breaches Attack.Databreach in any of Apple ’ s systems including iCloud and Apple ID , ” the spokesperson said . “ The alleged list of email addresses and passwords appears to have been obtained Attack.Databreach from previously compromised Attack.Databreach third-party services ” . A person familiar with the contents of the alleged data set said that many of the email accounts and passwords contained within it matched data leaked Attack.Databreach in a past breach Attack.Databreach at LinkedIn . The company representative declined to elaborate on what steps Apple had taken to monitor the situation . The spokesperson merely noted that such measures , whatever they may be , are “ standard procedure ” . Apple customers who secure their iCloud accounts with the same passwords they use on other online accounts—especially ones at LinkedIn , Yahoo ( yhoo ) , Dropbox , and other sites recently revealed to have suffered big breaches over the past few years—should adopt new passwords that are long , strong , and unique . Many security experts also recommend storing them in a password manager , and activating two-factor authentication , an additional layer of security , where available .

A compelling and potentially very successful email spam campaign is being leveraged against UK residents , warns Sophos researcher Paul Ducklin . The email addresses the recipients by their first name , the name of the attached file is their last name , and the email body contains their exact address . Add to this the claim that the sender has received a significant amount of personal information about the recipient and that this info was likely stolen Attack.Databreach in a hack Attack.Databreach , and one can see why many could be persuaded to download the attached file . In this particular case , the grammar and spelling mistakes in the email body do not play a factor , as it ’ s possible that a well-meaning sender of such a warning is not a native English speaker . If the recipient downloads and opens the attached Word file , he or she will be prompted to enter the password provided in the email , and to enable macros in order to view the document ’ s contents . Unfortunately , this action allows the file to run a malicious macro program bundled in the file , and it will download what seems to be a GIF file . It is not : it contains an executable file – a Trojan that turns the victim ’ s file into a bot , and ropes it into a botnet . As Ducklin noted , the malware included in the file can be easily changed , or the the current bot can download additional malware if so instructed by the attackers . Some could ( understandably ) be worried about the fact that someone out there has much personal info about them , but if they are , it ’ s best to involve local law enforcement and ask for advice

Leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron ’ s campaign said on Friday it had been the target of a “ massive ” computer hack Attack.Databreach that dumped Attack.Databreach its campaign emails online 1-1/2 days before voters choose between the centrist and his far-right rival , Marine Le Pen . Macron , who is seen as the frontrunner in an election billed as the most important in France in decades , extended his lead over Le Pen in polls on Friday . As much as 9 gigabytes of data were posted on a profile called EMLEAKS to Pastebin , a site that allows anonymous document sharing . It was not immediately clear who was responsible for posting the data or if any of it was genuine . In a statement , Macron ’ s political movement En Marche ! ( Onwards ! ) confirmed that it had been hacked . “ The En Marche Movement has been the victim of a massive and co-ordinated hack Attack.Databreach this evening which has given rise to the diffusion on social media of various internal information , ” the statement said . An interior ministry official declined to comment , citing French rules that forbid any commentary liable to influence an election , which took effect at midnight on Friday ( 2200 GMT ) . The presidential election commission said in statement that it would hold a meeting later on Saturday after Macron ’ s campaign informed it about the hack Attack.Databreach and publishing of the data . Former economy minister Macron ’ s campaign has previously complained about attempts to hack Attack.Databreach its emails , blaming Russian interests in part for the cyber attacks Attack.Databreach . On April 26 , the team said it had been the target of a attempts to steal Attack.Databreach email credentials dating back to January , but that the perpetrators had failed to compromise Attack.Databreach any campaign data . The Kremlin has denied it was behind any such attacks , even though Macron ’ s camp renewed complaints against Russian media and a hackers ’ group operating in Ukraine . Vitali Kremez , director of research with New York-based cyber intelligence firm Flashpoint , told Reuters his review indicates that APT 28 , a group tied to the GRU , the Russian military intelligence directorate , was behind the leak . He cited similarities with U.S. election hacks that have been previously attributed to that group . APT28 last month registered decoy Attack.Phishing internet addresses to mimic Attack.Phishing the name of En Marche , which it likely used send Attack.Phishing tainted emails to hack into the campaign ’ s computers , Kremez said . Those domains include onedrive-en-marche.fr and mail-en-marche.fr . “ If indeed driven by Moscow , this leak appears to be a significant escalation over the previous Russian operations aimed at the U.S. presidential election , expanding the approach and scope of effort from simple espionage efforts towards more direct attempts to sway the outcome , ” Kremez said . France is the latest nation to see a major election overshadowed by accusations of manipulation through cyber hacking . En Marche said the documents only showed the normal functioning of a presidential campaign , but that authentic documents had been mixed on social media with fake ones to sow “ doubt and misinformation ” . Ben Nimmo , a UK-based security researcher with the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council think tank , said initial analysis indicated that a group of U.S. far-right online activists were behind early efforts to spread the documents via social media . They were later picked up and promoted by core social media supporters of Le Pen in France , Nimmo said . The leaks emerged on 4chan , a discussion forum popular with far right activists in the United States . An anonymous poster provided links to the documents on Pastebin , saying , “ This was passed on to me today so now I am giving it to you , the people . ”

Leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron ’ s campaign said on Friday it had been the target of a “ massive ” computer hack Attack.Databreach that dumped Attack.Databreach its campaign emails online 1-1/2 days before voters choose between the centrist and his far-right rival , Marine Le Pen . Macron , who is seen as the frontrunner in an election billed as the most important in France in decades , extended his lead over Le Pen in polls on Friday . As much as 9 gigabytes of data were posted on a profile called EMLEAKS to Pastebin , a site that allows anonymous document sharing . It was not immediately clear who was responsible for posting the data or if any of it was genuine . In a statement , Macron ’ s political movement En Marche ! ( Onwards ! ) confirmed that it had been hacked . “ The En Marche Movement has been the victim of a massive and co-ordinated hack Attack.Databreach this evening which has given rise to the diffusion on social media of various internal information , ” the statement said . An interior ministry official declined to comment , citing French rules that forbid any commentary liable to influence an election , which took effect at midnight on Friday ( 2200 GMT ) . The presidential election commission said in statement that it would hold a meeting later on Saturday after Macron ’ s campaign informed it about the hack Attack.Databreach and publishing of the data . Former economy minister Macron ’ s campaign has previously complained about attempts to hack Attack.Databreach its emails , blaming Russian interests in part for the cyber attacks Attack.Databreach . On April 26 , the team said it had been the target of a attempts to steal Attack.Databreach email credentials dating back to January , but that the perpetrators had failed to compromise Attack.Databreach any campaign data . The Kremlin has denied it was behind any such attacks , even though Macron ’ s camp renewed complaints against Russian media and a hackers ’ group operating in Ukraine . Vitali Kremez , director of research with New York-based cyber intelligence firm Flashpoint , told Reuters his review indicates that APT 28 , a group tied to the GRU , the Russian military intelligence directorate , was behind the leak . He cited similarities with U.S. election hacks that have been previously attributed to that group . APT28 last month registered decoy Attack.Phishing internet addresses to mimic Attack.Phishing the name of En Marche , which it likely used send Attack.Phishing tainted emails to hack into the campaign ’ s computers , Kremez said . Those domains include onedrive-en-marche.fr and mail-en-marche.fr . “ If indeed driven by Moscow , this leak appears to be a significant escalation over the previous Russian operations aimed at the U.S. presidential election , expanding the approach and scope of effort from simple espionage efforts towards more direct attempts to sway the outcome , ” Kremez said . France is the latest nation to see a major election overshadowed by accusations of manipulation through cyber hacking . En Marche said the documents only showed the normal functioning of a presidential campaign , but that authentic documents had been mixed on social media with fake ones to sow “ doubt and misinformation ” . Ben Nimmo , a UK-based security researcher with the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council think tank , said initial analysis indicated that a group of U.S. far-right online activists were behind early efforts to spread the documents via social media . They were later picked up and promoted by core social media supporters of Le Pen in France , Nimmo said . The leaks emerged on 4chan , a discussion forum popular with far right activists in the United States . An anonymous poster provided links to the documents on Pastebin , saying , “ This was passed on to me today so now I am giving it to you , the people . ”

Leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron ’ s campaign said on Friday it had been the target of a “ massive ” computer hack Attack.Databreach that dumped Attack.Databreach its campaign emails online 1-1/2 days before voters choose between the centrist and his far-right rival , Marine Le Pen . Macron , who is seen as the frontrunner in an election billed as the most important in France in decades , extended his lead over Le Pen in polls on Friday . As much as 9 gigabytes of data were posted on a profile called EMLEAKS to Pastebin , a site that allows anonymous document sharing . It was not immediately clear who was responsible for posting the data or if any of it was genuine . In a statement , Macron ’ s political movement En Marche ! ( Onwards ! ) confirmed that it had been hacked . “ The En Marche Movement has been the victim of a massive and co-ordinated hack Attack.Databreach this evening which has given rise to the diffusion on social media of various internal information , ” the statement said . An interior ministry official declined to comment , citing French rules that forbid any commentary liable to influence an election , which took effect at midnight on Friday ( 2200 GMT ) . The presidential election commission said in statement that it would hold a meeting later on Saturday after Macron ’ s campaign informed it about the hack Attack.Databreach and publishing of the data . Former economy minister Macron ’ s campaign has previously complained about attempts to hack Attack.Databreach its emails , blaming Russian interests in part for the cyber attacks Attack.Databreach . On April 26 , the team said it had been the target of a attempts to steal Attack.Databreach email credentials dating back to January , but that the perpetrators had failed to compromise Attack.Databreach any campaign data . The Kremlin has denied it was behind any such attacks , even though Macron ’ s camp renewed complaints against Russian media and a hackers ’ group operating in Ukraine . Vitali Kremez , director of research with New York-based cyber intelligence firm Flashpoint , told Reuters his review indicates that APT 28 , a group tied to the GRU , the Russian military intelligence directorate , was behind the leak . He cited similarities with U.S. election hacks that have been previously attributed to that group . APT28 last month registered decoy Attack.Phishing internet addresses to mimic Attack.Phishing the name of En Marche , which it likely used send Attack.Phishing tainted emails to hack into the campaign ’ s computers , Kremez said . Those domains include onedrive-en-marche.fr and mail-en-marche.fr . “ If indeed driven by Moscow , this leak appears to be a significant escalation over the previous Russian operations aimed at the U.S. presidential election , expanding the approach and scope of effort from simple espionage efforts towards more direct attempts to sway the outcome , ” Kremez said . France is the latest nation to see a major election overshadowed by accusations of manipulation through cyber hacking . En Marche said the documents only showed the normal functioning of a presidential campaign , but that authentic documents had been mixed on social media with fake ones to sow “ doubt and misinformation ” . Ben Nimmo , a UK-based security researcher with the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council think tank , said initial analysis indicated that a group of U.S. far-right online activists were behind early efforts to spread the documents via social media . They were later picked up and promoted by core social media supporters of Le Pen in France , Nimmo said . The leaks emerged on 4chan , a discussion forum popular with far right activists in the United States . An anonymous poster provided links to the documents on Pastebin , saying , “ This was passed on to me today so now I am giving it to you , the people . ”

Leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron ’ s campaign said on Friday it had been the target of a “ massive ” computer hack Attack.Databreach that dumped Attack.Databreach its campaign emails online 1-1/2 days before voters choose between the centrist and his far-right rival , Marine Le Pen . Macron , who is seen as the frontrunner in an election billed as the most important in France in decades , extended his lead over Le Pen in polls on Friday . As much as 9 gigabytes of data were posted on a profile called EMLEAKS to Pastebin , a site that allows anonymous document sharing . It was not immediately clear who was responsible for posting the data or if any of it was genuine . In a statement , Macron ’ s political movement En Marche ! ( Onwards ! ) confirmed that it had been hacked . “ The En Marche Movement has been the victim of a massive and co-ordinated hack Attack.Databreach this evening which has given rise to the diffusion on social media of various internal information , ” the statement said . An interior ministry official declined to comment , citing French rules that forbid any commentary liable to influence an election , which took effect at midnight on Friday ( 2200 GMT ) . The presidential election commission said in statement that it would hold a meeting later on Saturday after Macron ’ s campaign informed it about the hack Attack.Databreach and publishing of the data . Former economy minister Macron ’ s campaign has previously complained about attempts to hack Attack.Databreach its emails , blaming Russian interests in part for the cyber attacks Attack.Databreach . On April 26 , the team said it had been the target of a attempts to steal Attack.Databreach email credentials dating back to January , but that the perpetrators had failed to compromise Attack.Databreach any campaign data . The Kremlin has denied it was behind any such attacks , even though Macron ’ s camp renewed complaints against Russian media and a hackers ’ group operating in Ukraine . Vitali Kremez , director of research with New York-based cyber intelligence firm Flashpoint , told Reuters his review indicates that APT 28 , a group tied to the GRU , the Russian military intelligence directorate , was behind the leak . He cited similarities with U.S. election hacks that have been previously attributed to that group . APT28 last month registered decoy Attack.Phishing internet addresses to mimic Attack.Phishing the name of En Marche , which it likely used send Attack.Phishing tainted emails to hack into the campaign ’ s computers , Kremez said . Those domains include onedrive-en-marche.fr and mail-en-marche.fr . “ If indeed driven by Moscow , this leak appears to be a significant escalation over the previous Russian operations aimed at the U.S. presidential election , expanding the approach and scope of effort from simple espionage efforts towards more direct attempts to sway the outcome , ” Kremez said . France is the latest nation to see a major election overshadowed by accusations of manipulation through cyber hacking . En Marche said the documents only showed the normal functioning of a presidential campaign , but that authentic documents had been mixed on social media with fake ones to sow “ doubt and misinformation ” . Ben Nimmo , a UK-based security researcher with the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council think tank , said initial analysis indicated that a group of U.S. far-right online activists were behind early efforts to spread the documents via social media . They were later picked up and promoted by core social media supporters of Le Pen in France , Nimmo said . The leaks emerged on 4chan , a discussion forum popular with far right activists in the United States . An anonymous poster provided links to the documents on Pastebin , saying , “ This was passed on to me today so now I am giving it to you , the people . ”

Hackers are reportedly selling Attack.Databreach stolen data from the Qatar National Bank ( QNB ) and UAE InvestBank on the dark web . Both the banks suffered major data breaches Attack.Databreach in 2016 and the data of thousands of customers was later leaked Attack.Databreach online by hackers . Now , even as tensions escalate between the two Middle Eastern nations , cybercriminals appear to be cashing in on the underground cybercrime community . Hackers hit Attack.Databreach the QNB in April 2016 and the UAE InvestBank in May 2016 . The Sharjah-based InvestBank 's stolen data was leaked Attack.Databreach online by a hacker going by the pseudonym `` Buba '' , who demanded Attack.Ransom a $ 3m ransom Attack.Ransom from the bank . The stolen data , including customers ' financial details as well as personal details such as full names , addresses , passport numbers , phone numbers , account numbers , credit card numbers along with their CVV codes and more was leaked Attack.Databreach online by the hacker after the bank refused to pay up the ransom Attack.Ransom . In the case of the QNB , a hacker group going by the pseudonym `` Bozkurt Hackers '' claimed responsibility for the data breach Attack.Databreach . Hackers leaked Attack.Databreach 1.4GB data , which included customers ' financial records , credit card numbers and PIN codes as well as banking details pertaining to the Al-Thani Qatar Royal Family and Al Jazeera journalists . The stolen data from the QNB hack Attack.Databreach as well as the InvestBank data breach Attack.Databreach is now up for sale on an unspecified yet popular dark web marketplace , HackRead reported . This has not been independently verified by IBTimes UK . InvestBank 's data is allegedly being sold for a mere 0.0071 bitcoins ( $ 18.86 , £14.91 ) . The data on sale includes bank accounts , card details , customer IDs , branch codes as well as account holders ' full names . The stolen and leaked data from the QNB , which the bank later acknowledged may have been accurate , is also on sale for 0.0071 bitcoins . The data listed for sale includes the previously leaked QNB records such as bank accounts as well as card and personal details of customers . Dark web data sales from major breaches Attack.Databreach are not uncommon . In 2016 , a series of major breaches Attack.Databreach affecting several leading tech firms including LinkedIn and Dropbox , eventually saw hackers selling Attack.Databreach hacked and stolen databases on the dark web .

The Equifax data breach Attack.Databreach in which millions of Americans had their personal details stolen Attack.Databreach may have been carried out by a foreign government in a bid to recruit U.S. spies , experts believe . Hackers took Attack.Databreach addresses , dates of birth , Social Security details and credit card numbers from 148million people when they targeted the credit ratings giant Equifax in 2017 . But the stolen data has not appeared on any 'dark web ' sites which sell personal information for sinister use , analysts have said . The data 's apparent disappearance has led some experts to conclude that it is in the hands of a foreign government , CNBC reported . One analyst told the channel : 'We are all working to be able to consistently determine whether this data is out there and whether it has ever been out there . And at this time there has been absolutely no indication , whatsoever , that the data has been disclosed , that it has been used or that it has been offered for sale . Another ex-intelligence worker said personal data could be used by foreign governments to identify powerful people who were having financial problems . Those people would be prime targets for a bribe or might be attracted by a job offer , he said . It has also been suggested that the criminals who stole Attack.Databreach the data feared detection if they sold it online and have kept it to themselves to avoid capture . Equifax , one of America 's three leading consumer reporting agencies , announced the huge data hack Attack.Databreach in September 2017 and its CEO Richard Smith resigned later that month . They initially said 143million people had been affected but the number eventually grew to 148million , equivalent to nearly half the U.S. population . The hackers targeted the company for 76 days until the attack was spotted , according to a congressional report . Hackers gained access Attack.Databreach to 48 databases between May 13 and July 29 when Equifax noticed the intrusion , the report said . Last year the firm admitted that passport images and information had also been stolen Attack.Databreach . The U.S. House committee which investigated the breach said the firm had 'failed to fully appreciate and mitigate its cybersecurity risks ' . 'Had the company taken action to address Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability its observable security issues prior to this cyberattack , the data breach Attack.Databreach could have been prevented , ' the committee 's report said .