BlackByte ransomware attack against San Francisco 49ers impacts over 20K people

More than 20,000 individuals had their sensitive data exfiltrated following the BlackByte ransomware attack against the San Francisco 49ers prior to Super Bowl Sunday, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. While the 49ers earlier reported the incident to be confined to its corporate IT network, it recently sent notification letters to 20,930 individuals saying that their names and Social Security numbers were compromised during the breach, which lasted for six days. "The 49ers conducted a thorough review of these files to identify the individuals whose information was contained in the files, and additional research to locate and verify the addresses for these individuals," said the 49ers. Victims have been offered free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services for a year. More security protocols have already been implemented by the organization, including employee security training. Various U.S. and foreign businesses have already been attacked by BlackByte since its emergence last September.