The backers of the popular consumer payments app announced Monday that millions of customers are being contacted to warn that some of their personal information may have been compromised. Credit: PeopleImages / Getty Images In an SEC filing made on Monday, Cash App parent company Block, Inc., said that it was working to contact roughly 8.2 million past and present customers of its investment services, as names, brokerage portfolio values and account numbers were compromised in a data breach.According to Block’s form 8-K, a employee who had regular access to the records during their employment downloaded customer records after leaving the company. The reports didn’t contain Cash App usernames or passwords, and the company said that Social Security numbers, birthdays, payment card info and most other types of personally identifiable information weren’t accessed.How cybercriminals can leverage stolen Cash App dataStill, according to experts, the portfolio data accessed represents a serious compromise. Avivah Litan, a distinguished research vice president at Gartner, said that part of the idea with this type of hack might be to identify potentially worthwhile targets for further compromise. “Using this compromised data, a hacker could determine which investors are worth targeting, based on their account values, and how to target them, based on their portfolio holdings and daily trading activity,” she said. “Further, they could integrate the compromised CashApp data with other previously stolen dark net data that potentially exists on the same individual to gain enough information – such as user IDs and passwords at other financial institutions or websites – to effectively socially engineer the user into transferring funds to a criminal account.” The idea that the attack was one step in a longer process was echoed by IDC research director Aaron Press, who said that the potential target – brokerage accounts – made sense, given the specific types of information that were stolen.“There’s no guarantee that this will be of use, and it may not be of value,” he said, “but if someone were interested in attacking a brokerage account, then this would be a place to start.” CSO is currently following this event and will post updates as they become available. Related content news Google launches Google Threat Intelligence at RSA Conference The new addition to Google Cloud Security is designed to give security teams information to inform approaches to protecting against external threats, managing attack surfaces, and mitigating digital risks. By Sascha Brodsky May 06, 2024 4 mins Google Cloud Functions Cloud Security Security Software brandpost Sponsored by Elastic Search + RAG: The 1-2 punch transforming the modern SOC with AI-driven security analytics AI is modernizing how SOCs function, triaging countless alerts down to a handful of attacks that matter most. By Mike Nichols, Product for Security at Elastic May 06, 2024 3 mins Artificial Intelligence how-to Download the Zero Trust network access (ZTNA) enterprise buyer’s guide From the editors of our sister publication Network World, this enterprise buyer’s guide helps network and security IT staff understand what ZTNA can do for their organizations and how to choose the right solution. By Josh Fruhlinger and steve_zurier May 06, 2024 1 min Zero Trust Access Control Network Security news Germany blames Russian hackers for months-long cyber espionage The attacks by Russia-backed Fancy Bear used an Outlook exploit to compromise several German officials’ accounts. By Shweta Sharma May 06, 2024 4 mins Advanced Persistent Threats Hacker Groups PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe