23/04/2021: Cybersecurity & Tech News Roundup

Welcome to our daily tech news roundup – this is the place where we keep you up to date on the latest technology happenings, cybersecurity news, and more. Here’s what’s going on in the tech world today:

A Bumble boast has led the FBI to a US Capitol rioter’s doorstep

There are many things you may want to boast about on a dating app – maybe your height, your job, maybe even the giant fish you caught that one time – but illegal activity is probably not one of those things. This is an unwritten rule that was ignored by Robert Chapman, a New Yorker who has been accused of taking part in the January 6th US Capitol riots.

Unfortunately, the accused pretty much told on himself, by boasting about his illegal endeavours on Bumble, which led the FBI straight to his door. He told a user he matched with that he “did storm the Capitol, I made it all the way into Statuary Hall” which didn’t elicit the response that Chapman was hoping for, when the other user not only replied “we are not a match,” but then shared a screenshot of their conversation with the authorities.

The conversation was paired with police bodycam footage that tied Robert Chapman to the Capitol building in Washington DC during the riots – a match made in heaven. Read more here.

Hertfordshire becomes the latest university to be targeted by hackers

Hertfordshire University recently experienced a cyber attack that resulted in all systems being affected – including Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Needless to say, this affected students the worst, with online classes being suspended, and remote learners missing out on part of the education they pay so much for.

On the bright side, in-person teaching continued as normal, so students that were still living local to the area were able to carry on with their studies. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, many students have returned to their family home to carry out virtual lessons there, and this cyber attack made that impossible for those students.

The university allowed deadlines falling around the time of the breach to be extended, to ensure that students who were unable to submit their work due to the hack didn’t lose marks because of a situation that was no fault of their own.

The update from the University also states that students with deadlines falling on or after 9pm on 14 April would be given new submission dates to ensure that students would not be disadvantaged by the attack.

Along with Teams and Zoom, the university’s login services, student records, study services, Microsoft 365 access, off-campus VPNs, staff email, Wi-Fi access, network access, student mobile services, data storage, and other critical business systems were all affected. The attack pretty much took all systems offline – a devastating blow for educators, students, administrators, and business leaders alike. This is far from the first cyber attack against a UK university, and we’re pretty sure it’s nowhere near the last. Read more here.

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