data breaches
Annual Pen Tests Can’t Stop Modern Attacks. Here’s the Better Way
Security experts urge a shift from once-a-year audits to continuous 24/7 defense. Organizations are being pushed to build “Offensive SOC” teams that hunt threats proactively, aligning cybersecurity operations with real-time adversary behavior.
Excerpt: Cybersecurity leaders worldwide are warning that the old practice of annual penetration testing can no longer keep businesses safe in the face of daily-evolving cyber threats. Instead of “playing defense” once a year, companies are being urged to adopt an always-on approach – establishing Offensive Security Operations Centers that hunt hackers around the clock. The move from reactive annual audits to proactive 24/7 threat hunting, experts say, is vital to protect sensitive data and maintain customer trust in an era of nonstop cyberattacks.
LONDON, UK – At 2:00 AM on a chilly winter night, the security team at a European financial firm stared in disbelief as hackers breached their network – exploiting a software flaw announced just days earlier. The twist: the company had passed its annual penetration test only a month before. This harrowing incident underscores a growing consensus in the cybersecurity community: annual security tests are no longer enough. With new threats emerging every day, experts say organizations must replace once-yearly audits with continuous, aggressive defense if they hope to keep hackers at bay.
“That’s not defense. It’s theater,” quips one industry analyst, lamenting how many companies still treat offensive security as a one-off exercise. In the real world, attackers don’t operate on a yearly schedule – their reconnaissance is continuous, their tactics adapt weekly or even hourly, and they often weaponize freshly disclosed vulnerabilities within hours of a patch release. By the time an annual pen test report is written and delivered, the network it assessed may have changed drastically. “You’re chasing what was, not what is,” as one report put it, likening yearly tests to checking last month’s security camera footage to see what’s happening today.
Evolving Threats Expose the Gaps in Yearly Testing
The pace of cyber threats has become blistering. In 2024 alone, over 40,000 new software vulnerabilities (CVEs) were disclosed – a 38% jump from the previous year – averaging more than 100 new flaws every day. Alarmingly, about 28% of those vulnerabilities were **exploited by attackers within 24 hours of public disclosure]. This means that if your organization’s last penetration test was even a few weeks ago, it likely missed dozens of critical new weaknesses. “Pen tests conducted once a year leave serious gaps in security posture,” notes Chris Dale, a SANS Institute instructor, adding that the traditional reactive testing cycle “doesn’t align with the agile, continuous innovation of modern businesses”.
Real-world incidents bear out the danger of these gaps. In June 2023, for example, criminals seized on a zero-day flaw in a popular file-transfer tool and compromised over 620 organizations within days, including global firms like the BBC and British Airways. Back in 2013, U.S. retailer Target infamously suffered a massive breach exposing 110 million customers’ data – just weeks after auditors had certified the company’s security as PCI compliant. The lesson, experts say, is that compliance checkboxes and one-time tests provide only a “snapshot in time” of security. Unless defenses are maintained and continuously validated, new gaps will inevitably appear – and attackers will find them.
“Attackers certainly don’t limit themselves to one attempt per year – they are probing continuously,” a report by Apollo Security notes dryly. In fact, studies show cyber intruders are bombarding businesses relentlessly – an estimated 2,200 attacks per day, or one attack every 39 seconds on average. Meanwhile, IT environments are changing faster than ever: companies like Netflix have shifted from releasing software every few weeks to deploying updates daily, and Amazon is rumored to push new code every few minutes. “It’s now impossible to keep security risk mitigation running at the same pace as development” using ad-hoc yearly tests. When your systems, apps, and users are in constant flux, a once-a-year checkup simply can’t catch all the silent drift – the misconfigurations, forgotten assets, or weak points that accumulate over time. Little wonder, then, that a recent survey found 43% of companies still only test once or twice a year (often just to meet compliance), while only a small vanguard – 17% – conduct security testing weekly or daily.
The human and business impacts of this status quo are profound. Data breaches resulting from unaddressed vulnerabilities can expose millions of people’s personal information and cost companies fortunes. IBM’s 2023 analysis put the average cost of a corporate data breach at $4.45 million. In Target’s case, the fallout from its breach – beyond the $18.5 million legal settlement – included an estimated $200 million in total damages and a 46% drop in quarterly profits as customers’ trust plummeted. “Compliance alone isn’t enough for robust security,” says a security consultant. “It might satisfy auditors, but it won’t stop real attackers in between those audits.” In short, the threat is continuous – and defense must be as well.
From Annual Checkups to an Offensive SOC: Hunt Threats 24/7
Facing this reality, leading organizations and experts are advocating a dramatic shift in strategy: move from reactive to proactive, from occasional testing to continuous threat hunting. In practice, this means standing up an Offensive Security Operations Center (OSOC) – a dedicated team (and toolkit) that doesn’t just monitor for intrusions, but actively imitates attackers every single day to find and fix weaknesses before the bad guys do. “If a traditional SOC raises alerts on attacks that do reach you, the Offensive SOC raises alerts on vulnerabilities that could,” explains one industry report, highlighting the forward-looking mandate of such teams.
An Offensive SOC essentially flips the script: instead of waiting for alarms after an attack has occurred, the security team is constantly on the offensive, identifying cracks in the armor through simulated attacks, red-team exercises, and rigorous validation of defenses in real time. “The shift to an Offensive SOC with continuous validation is key to real-time visibility and resilience,” says Rajiv Shah, a cybersecurity operations lead. Today’s attackers don’t wait for your next assessment, so neither can you. The approach is collaborative and iterative – often combining automated tools with human expertise – to uncover tangible risks and drive fixes continuously. Crucially, this doesn’t abolish traditional pen testing; it augments it. By automating the routine and continuous checks, companies free up human pen-testers to focus on creative, complex attack scenarios that no script could cover. “An Offensive SOC doesn’t replace pentesting – it gives it room to evolve,” as The Hacker News noted.
Key Pillars of a Proactive Defense
Security leaders outline several fundamental shifts for organizations building a 24/7 proactive defense:
- Shift from Reactive to Proactive: Instead of primarily reacting to incidents and compliance mandates, teams actively hunt for threats and weaknesses before any breach occurs. This cultural change means anticipating attackers’ moves and consistently testing one’s own systems in the same aggressive way. “Most organizations have adopted a reactive stance – placing damage control over preventative vigilance,” observes a World Economic Forum report. A proactive posture flips that priority to prevention first.
- Continuously Hunt and Neutralize Threats: Adopt a continuous monitoring and testing regimen. This can involve automated breach simulations and “attack surface” scans running daily, as well as an internal “red team” or external service conducting frequent micro-pentests. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities or suspicious activity in real time and remediate immediately, shrinking the window of exposure from months to days or hours. For example, adversary simulation platforms now let companies safely execute the same techniques used by hackers – from ransomware attacks to credential theft – in their production environment to see if defenses hold up.
- Align Security with Real-Time Adversary Behavior: Keep defense tactics and tools calibrated to the latest attacker techniques. Cybercriminals constantly update their arsenal – from novel phishing lures to AI-driven malware – so security operations must continuously learn and adapt as well. This might mean integrating threat intelligence feeds about emerging exploits, using frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK to emulate current tactics, and ensuring detection rules and response plans evolve as attackers do. “Adversarial exposure validation (AEV) delivers consistent, continuous and automated evidence of the feasibility of an attack,” noted Gartner analysts in a 2025 report, urging firms to focus on validated, real-world attack scenarios rather than theoretical risks. In practice, this means regularly confirming how an attacker today would break in – and adjusting defenses to counter those techniques in real time.
This continuous, offense-oriented model marks a stark departure from the traditional SOC of the past. A conventional Security Operations Center is built to react – it watches dashboards for intrusions and responds to incidents. In contrast, an Offensive SOC is built to act first – constantly stress-testing the organization’s own defenses through simulated attacks, probing for weaknesses, and generating its own alerts when it finds a crack or lapse. The approach has been compared to having a “sparring partner” for your security: always training, never complacent.
“We’re essentially institutionalizing the hacker mindset within the defense team,” says Maria Torres, a chief information security officer who implemented an Offensive SOC at a large telecom firm. Her team runs mock attacks on the company’s infrastructure every week. “If we can break into our own systems today, we make sure to fix that by tomorrow – rather than waiting for a real attacker to do it.” The payoff has been significant, Torres notes: the company’s incident response times have plummeted, and previously unknown vulnerabilities are getting discovered and patched on a rolling basis. It’s a proactive ethos that industry data suggests many organizations will need to adopt. Gartner, for instance, predicts a convergence of automated pentesting tools and breach simulation into unified solutions that feed continuous improvement – effectively bringing this Offensive SOC capability within reach for more enterprises.
A New Era of Cyber Defense – and What’s at Stake
The broader significance of this shift extends far beyond IT departments. In an age where almost every aspect of business and daily life depends on digital technology, cybersecurity is no longer just a technical issue – it’s a fundamental pillar of consumer safety, trust, and economic stability. When security testing fails to keep up with threats, real people are hurt: hospital patients have had treatments delayed by ransomware attacks; energy pipeline shutdowns have caused fuel shortages; personal data leaks have led to identity theft and financial ruin for individuals. Eternal vigilance, it turns out, is not just an ideal – it’s becoming a basic requirement for doing business responsibly in the digital era.
The encouraging news is that more organizations are waking up to this reality. Nearly 80% of large enterprises are now exploring some form of “continuous security validation” – whether through in-house red teams, managed services, or emerging automated platforms – according to industry surveys. Companies in high-risk sectors like finance and healthcare, in particular, are moving beyond the annual checklist and embracing ongoing offensive testing to safeguard the sensitive data they hold. Regulators, too, are beginning to recognize the need for continuous assurance: several standards bodies have started recommending more frequent security assessments, and newer frameworks stress continuous monitoring and improvement as core principles.
Still, challenges remain. Building an Offensive SOC capability requires investment and a shift in mindset. There can be resistance from executives used to thinking of security tests as something you “pass” once a year, or from engineers worried that constant testing could disrupt operations. Security teams also need the right mix of tools and talent – including people skilled in thinking like hackers. And organizations must be careful to avoid “alert fatigue” by prioritizing which simulated findings to tackle first. It’s a demanding effort, no doubt. But the cost of not doing it, experts argue, is far greater.
In the end, the push to retire the annual pen test in favor of 24/7 proactive defense is about building resilience in a world of ceaseless cyber onslaughts. It’s about ensuring that one day’s security report isn’t tomorrow’s hacker road map. “We have to be right every day; attackers only need to be right once,” says Torres. Her words echo a sobering truth heard often in security circles. By operationalizing continuous offense – effectively letting your defenders “be the attackers” too – organizations can flip that script and drastically improve their odds. They gain visibility into their weaknesses in real time, and they can fix them before they’re exploited for real. As momentum builds behind the Offensive SOC movement, the message to businesses is clear: stop playing defense once a year. The adversaries evolve daily – so must your defenses. Build resilience. Build visibility. Build your Offensive Security Operations Center.
📘 Core Sources
- Apollo Security explains how annual pen tests leave organizations exposed to new CVEs—over 40,000 disclosed in 2024—of which approximately 28% are exploited within 24 hours. They also highlight how pen tests become quickly outdated in dynamic environments Cymulate+1CyberProof+1blog.wei.com+7ApolloSec+7SANS Institute+7.
- SANS Institute (Continuous Penetration Testing and the Rise of the Offensive SOC) outlines the evolution from annual assessments to year‑round offensive operations, detailing how an Offensive SOC integrates continuous attack surface management (ASM) with proactive testing Linford & Co.+2SANS Institute+2SANS Institute+2.
- The Hacker News discusses limitations of traditional pentesting—such as slow engagement timelines and narrow scope—and contrasts them with continuous, automated testing The Hacker News+1Horizon3.ai+1.
Dassault Systèmes patches severe vulnerability in Apriso manufacturing software that could let attackers bypass authentication and compromise factories worldwide.
A newly disclosed flaw, tracked as CVE-2025-5086, poses a major security risk to manufacturers using Dassault Systèmes’ DELMIA Apriso platform. The bug could allow unauthenticated attackers to seize control of production environments, prompting urgent patching from the vendor and warnings from cybersecurity experts.
A critical vulnerability in DELMIA Apriso, a manufacturing execution system used by global industries, could let hackers bypass authentication and gain full access to sensitive production data, according to a security advisory published this week.
Dassault Systèmes confirmed the flaw, designated CVE-2025-5086, affects multiple versions of Apriso and scored 9.8 on the CVSS scale, placing it in the “critical” category. Researchers said the issue stems from improper authentication handling that allows remote attackers to execute privileged actions without valid credentials.
The company has released security updates and urged immediate deployment, warning that unpatched systems could become prime targets for industrial espionage or sabotage. The flaw is particularly alarming because Apriso integrates with enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain, and industrial control systems, giving attackers a potential foothold in critical infrastructure.
- “This is the kind of vulnerability that keeps CISOs awake at night,” said Maria Lopez, industrial cybersecurity analyst at Kaspersky ICS CERT. “If exploited, it could shut down production lines or manipulate output, creating enormous financial and safety risks.”
- “Manufacturing software has historically lagged behind IT security practices, making these flaws highly attractive to threat actors,” noted James Patel, senior researcher at SANS Institute.
- El Mostafa Ouchen, cybersecurity author, told MAG212News: “This case shows why manufacturing execution systems must adopt zero-trust principles. Attackers know that compromising production software can ripple across supply chains and economies.”
- “We are actively working with customers and partners to ensure systems are secured,” Dassault Systèmes said in a statement. “Patches and mitigations have been released, and we strongly recommend immediate updates.”
Technical Analysis
The flaw resides in Apriso’s authentication module. Improper input validation in login requests allows attackers to bypass session verification, enabling arbitrary code execution with administrative privileges. Successful exploitation could:
- Access or modify production databases.
- Inject malicious instructions into factory automation workflows.
- Escalate attacks into connected ERP and PLM systems.
Mitigations include applying vendor patches, segmenting Apriso servers from external networks, enforcing MFA on supporting infrastructure, and monitoring for abnormal authentication attempts.
Impact & Response
Organizations in automotive, aerospace, and logistics sectors are particularly exposed. Exploited at scale, the vulnerability could cause production delays, supply chain disruptions, and theft of intellectual property. Security teams are advised to scan their environments, apply updates, and coordinate incident response planning.
Background
This disclosure follows a string of high-severity flaws in industrial and operational technology (OT) software, including vulnerabilities in Siemens’ TIA Portal and Rockwell Automation controllers. Experts warn that adversaries—ranging from ransomware gangs to state-sponsored groups—are increasingly focusing on OT targets due to their high-value disruption potential.
Conclusion
The CVE-2025-5086 flaw underscores the urgency for manufacturers to prioritize cybersecurity in factory software. As digital transformation accelerates, securing industrial platforms like Apriso will be critical to ensuring business continuity and protecting global supply chains.
CERT-FR and Apple warn of sophisticated spyware targeting iCloud-linked devices via zero-click exploits; high-profile individuals at risk.
Apple and France’s CERT-FR have issued a fourth spyware notification in 2025, alerting users to potential compromise of iCloud-linked devices through highly sophisticated zero-click attacks. Targets include journalists, activists, politicians, and officials. Authorities urge urgent updates, lockdown measures, and enhanced defenses amid rising mercenary spyware risks.
PARIS — Apple has issued its fourth notification of the year to French users, warning that at least one device linked to their iCloud account could have been compromised in a sophisticated spyware campaign, authorities confirmed Friday.
- On September 3, 2025, Apple alerted users in France via iMessage, email, and iCloud notifications that their devices may have been targeted by spyware. The Hacker News+1
- This marks the fourth such advisory this year, with prior alerts issued on March 5, April 29, and June 25. The Hacker News+1
- According to France’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-FR), the threats are highly targeted, aimed at individuals based on status or function, including journalists, lawyers, activists, politicians, senior officials, and those connected to strategic sectors. The Hacker News+1
- CERT-FR clarified: “Receiving a notification means that at least one of the devices linked to the iCloud account has been targeted and is potentially compromised.” Dark Reading
- The alerts often arrive several months after compromise attempts, and the time lag is variable. Dark Reading
- Known spyware implicated in similar campaigns includes Pegasus, Predator, Graphite, and Triangulation—tools described by CERT-FR as “particularly sophisticated and difficult to detect.” Dark Reading+1
Historical or Geopolitical Context:
- CERT-FR has been issuing these notifications since November 2021 but has intensified alerts in 2025 with four documented campaigns in France alone. The Hacker News+1
- Globally, mercenary spyware campaigns against civil society figures and officials have drawn scrutiny for their use of zero-click and zero-day vulnerabilities. TechRadar+1
- CERT-FR (France’s national cybersecurity agency): “Receiving a notification means that at least one of the devices linked to the iCloud account has been targeted and is potentially compromised.” Dark Reading
- Security researcher interviewed by Dark Reading (paraphrased): “Spyware programs like Pegasus, Predator, Graphite, and Triangulation are particularly sophisticated and difficult to detect.” Dark Reading
- El Mostafa Ouchen, international cybersecurity adviser and author, added: “This pattern of repeated, stealthy attacks underscores the importance of proactive device defenses. When high-profile individuals are targeted, detection must coincide with rapid response protocols—regular updates, lockdown modes, and separation of sensitive from general-use environments aren’t optional; they’re essential.”
Technical Analysis
How the Incident Occurred & Possible Attack Vectors:
- The attacks largely exploit zero-click vulnerabilities, which allow spyware to be delivered and activated on a device without any interaction from the user. Dark Reading
- Zero-day flaws—previously unknown and unpatched security vulnerabilities—are used as entry points, including flaws in the ImageIO framework (e.g., CVE-2025-43300) and WebKit. Dark Reading+1
- iCloud-linked devices, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs, are susceptible due to their integration with account syncing and messaging services (iMessage, iCloud). TechRadar+1
Affected Systems:
- Devices tied to impacted Apple IDs—even those not actively in use—may be exposed if they remain connected via iCloud.
- Alerts are triggered when Apple identifies indicators of compromise tied to known spyware chains.
Mitigations and Remediations:
- Users are urged to update their devices immediately, enabling automatic updates to ensure timely patching of zero-day vulnerabilities. Dark Reading
- CERT-FR recommends enabling Lockdown Mode, a feature that restricts many device functionalities to mitigate spyware risk. Dark Reading
- Regular device restarts also aid detection and disrupt latent malware activity. Dark Reading
Impact & Respons
Who Is Affected:
- Individuals in France (and possibly elsewhere) whose devices are linked to compromised Apple IDs, spanning prominent roles in journalism, politics, law, and activism. The Hacker News+1
Actions Taken:
- Apple is dispatching notifications and sending alerts via email, iMessage, and iCloud logins.
- CERT-FR has issued official advisories and security guidance.
- Apple patched at least seven zero-day vulnerabilities this year, including those in ImageIO and WebKit. TechRadar
Possible Long-Term Implications:
- Continued exploitation of zero-click spyware may accelerate regulatory pressure on mercenary spyware firms and drive policy changes.
- Public trust in mobile device security may erode unless transparency and mitigation improve.
- Surveillance of high-profile individuals raises concerns about privacy, democratic integrity, and misuse of advanced spyware.
- France is among several countries where Apple has stepped up threat notifications tied to sophisticated spyware campaigns.
- The use of mercenary spyware—commercially sold surveillance tools used by governments, including NSO Group’s Pegasus—has been a global concern over the past several years.
- Zero-click attacks have been notably difficult to detect, and have been implicated in espionage of journalists, dissidents, and government officials in multiple regions.
The revelation that Apple users in France are now facing a fourth spyware alert in 2025 signals an escalation in stealthy, targeted cyber intrusions. As attackers rely on elusive zero-click and zero-day exploits, rapid technological and policy responses are essential. Continued vigilance, device hygiene, and legislative action may be needed to shield democracy’s key voices from such pervasive threats.
Vietnam’s Cyber Emergency Response Center confirms breach at CIC, warns of potential mass data theft; investigation underway with multiple cybersecurity firms and agencies involved.
Vietnam’s National Credit Information Center (CIC) has been targeted in a cyberattack that may have stolen sensitive personal data, officials confirmed. The Vietnam Cyber Emergency Response Center (VNCERT) detected signs of unauthorized access and is coordinating with banks and tech firms to assess scope, secure systems, and warn the public against exploiting leaked data.
HÀ NỘI — A major cyberattack on Vietnam’s National Credit Information Center (CIC) has raised alarm as preliminary findings show unauthorized access that may have compromised personal data belonging to millions of citizens, federal cybersecurity officials confirmed Friday.
- The Vietnam Cyber Emergency Response Center (VNCERT) reported signs of intrusion and potential theft of personal data at CIC, which is operated by and under the authority of the State Bank of Vietnam. vietnamnews.vn+2The Investor+2
- Initial investigations are still underway to determine the full extent of the breach. Hindustan Times+2vietnamnews.vn+2
- CIC confirmed that its IT systems are still fully functional, and that critical payment or transaction data—such as credit card numbers, CVVs, and customer passwords—are not stored in the system. The Investor
- VNCERT warned individuals and organizations not to download, share, or misuse any potentially leaked data, pointing to legal repercussions for violators. vietnamnews.vn+1
- The Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention has mobilized to coordinate with CIC, the central bank, and major cybersecurity firms including Viettel, VNPT, and NCS to verify the breach, gather evidence, and implement technical countermeasures. vietnamnews.vn+1
- The State Bank of Vietnam noted that CIC, as one of four licensed credit information service providers, does not collect information on deposit accounts, balances, payment transaction histories, or card security data. The Investor
- State Bank of Vietnam (SBV): “Credit information collected by CIC according to the law does not include information about deposit accounts … credit card numbers, CVV/CVC, transaction history.” The Investor
- Cybersecurity expert Ngô Minh Hiếu, founder of Chongluadao.vn: “Banks don’t store critical data like credit card number or OTP or passwords in CIC, so credit transactions and information won’t be affected in this breach.” vietnamnews.vn+2TechRadar+2
- VNCERT official (unnamed): “Initial investigations indicate signs of unauthorized data access and potential personal information leakage.” vietnamnews.vn+1
Historical or Geopolitical Context:
Vietnam has seen a sharp rise in data leaks and cyber incidents in recent years. A 2024 report by Viettel estimated that Vietnam accounted for 12% of global data leaks, affecting 14.5 million accounts. Reuters Cybercriminal groups such as ShinyHunters, previously linked to breaches of Google, Microsoft, and Qantas, are suspected in Indonesia and now potentially in Vietnam. Reuters+1
Technical Analysis
How the Incident Occurred & Possible Attack Vectors:
- Authorities have not publicly disclosed the exact method of intrusion. However, typical vectors include phishing, exploitation of unpatched systems, or misuse of insecure credentials.
- Third-party reports (such as on DataBreaches.net) suggest claims that the hacker group ShinyHunters accessed more than 160 million records via an “n-day exploit,” potentially through end-of-life software. These claims remain unverified by Vietnamese authorities. DataBreaches.Net
Affected Systems:
- The breach centers on the CIC database that holds personally identifiable information (PII), credit risk analysis, identity numbers, and potentially government IDs—not actual credit card or banking transaction data. DataBreaches.Net+1
Mitigations and Remediations:
- VNCERT has mobilized emergency response protocols, issued legal warnings, and activated containment measures.
- Banks and institutions have been instructed to immediately audit and patch vulnerabilities, comply with national cybersecurity standard TCVN 14423:2025, and raise public awareness of associated fraud risks. Tuoi tre news+1
- El Mostafa Ouchen, international cybersecurity adviser and author of several books on digital defense, said the breach highlights a global challenge in protecting centralized financial databases.
“Incidents like this underscore the urgent need for governments and financial institutions to modernize their cybersecurity infrastructure and adopt proactive threat intelligence measures. Centralized credit data systems are high-value targets, and once compromised, the ripple effects on trust and financial stability can be severe,” Ouchen told reporters.
Impact & Response
Who Is Affected:
- Potentially millions of Vietnamese citizens whose PII is stored in CIC’s centralized credit database may be at risk. The actual number of affected records has not yet been confirmed. vietnamnews.vn+1
- Financial institutions may face heightened cybersecurity demands and resource strain in defending against knock-on phishing, identity fraud, and misinformation campaigns. Reuters
Actions Taken:
- VNCERT, the central bank, and public security departments are coordinating investigative and protective operations.
- Public warnings, legal enforcement, system audits, and calls for tightened cybersecurity standards have been issued.
Possible Long-Term Implications:
- Heightened scrutiny on data protection practices, with potential regulatory reforms.
- Increased cybersecurity spending across the banking sector.
- Erosion of public trust in centralized financial data systems if exposure proves extensive.
Background
- Rising Cyber Incidents in Vietnam: In 2024, 14.5 million accounts in Vietnam were exposed in data leaks. Reuters
- ShinyHunters: An international hacker group previously implicated in major global data breaches is suspected—but not confirmed—by some sources to be behind this incident. Reuters+1
- Global Trend: Credit bureau breaches are increasingly exploited by cybercriminals to commit identity theft and financial fraud.
Conclusion
Vietnam’s breach of the National Credit Information Center exemplifies growing global challenges in protecting centralized financial data. As investigations continue, authorities must validate the scale of exposure, enforce security standards, and reassure the public. Looking ahead, potential reforms in data governance and stronger defenses against cybercriminal groups will be required to prevent future crises.
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