Dive Brief:
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Hackers allegedly responsible for the computer breaches at Anthem Health and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management also reportedly breached United Airlines.
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The stolen data included information on passengers and their travel origins and destinations, Bloomberg reported.
- Investigators have reportedly linked the breach to a group of China-backed hackers
Dive Insight:
On June 2, United Airlines was forced to temporarily suspend flights because of computer problems. Now, investigators looking into the OPM hacking case have found evidence that the group responsible for the OPM hack may also have breached United on June 2. United had a similar shutdown on July 8, though no connection has been found between that incident and a security breach.
Symantec researchers said the Anthem breach — which involved the theft of 78.8 million records — was the work of a group called Black Vine. Bloomberg reported the OPM hack has been tied to the same group.
According to Symantec, Black Vine has “access to exploits for previously unknown vulnerabilities through an attack platform called the Elderwood framework that is shared by multiple cyberespionage groups, all based in China.”
