Domino’s Hacker Scores Free Pizza

A cyber whizz from the UK has outwitted a simple Domino’s app to obtain free pizza. Paul Price, whose Twitter page describes him as a “cyber security consultant, software developer, cat enthusiast and F1 fanatic”, rang rings around the app when trying to order an Americano with extra pineapple and hotdog-stuffed crust (taste is indeed a subjective thing).

Price noticed that the £10 voucher code was generated by an API app, on the server side. Being the cyber boffin that he is, he did a little dabbling and quickly found that the payments were being processed while still viewable by and accessible to the client. With some deft jiggery-pokery, he managed to flabbergast the system enough to make it believe he had paid – when in fact he’d only entered a bogus credit card code and manipulated the values online.

Of course, Mr Price’s conscience got the better of him and he paid for the baked treats on arrival, as well of later informing Domino’s of their misstep. For tech wizards keen on understanding the nuances of Price’s technique, he’s done his mathematics and shown his working on his own webpage.

Cyber Crime on the Rise

Thought Mr Price showed his true Good Samaritan colours in the end and refrained from taking advantage of the ickle wickle corporation, not every hacker is quite as principled. A report conducted by Symantec earlier this month revealed that over half a billion digital identities were exposed to or subject fraud in 2015, with hospitals and health insurance providers being the prime targets. Worryingly, the UK was in the top five countries exposed to cyber threats, along with France, Australia, Germany and the USA.

Even more concerning, there is the worry that some firms have stopped reporting the virtual trespasses in order to avoid losing face. “The increasing number of companies choosing to hold back critical details after a breach is a disturbing trend,” explained Kevin Haley, head honcho of security response over at Symantec. “By hiding the full impact of an attack, it becomes more difficult to assess the risk and improve your security posture to prevent future attacks.”

Meanwhile, communications company British Telecom has signalled its intention to hire 900 additional security staff in a bid to ward off attacks on the company and its customers. The jobs, the majority of which are being created in the UK, will complement BT’s existing security team, which is already 2,500 strong.

How to Stay Safe

In today’s increasingly cyber-centric world, the threat of online fraud has never been more prevalent. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to conduct business and personal transactions online without confidence. Taking a few small precautions can safeguard all of your sensitive information from would-be hackers – here are a few pointers for the rookie:

• Avoid public places. Refrain from conducting business deals, personal purchases or banking tasks on an unsecured network, such as in an internet café.
• Look for the padlock. When filling out personal information online, make sure the website has a padlock next to its address. This indicates that it uses a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and encrypts all of your data.
• Firewall at the ready. Having a reliable and secure firewall in place can block threats and attempts to steal your information by the less scrupulous surfers on the internet.
• Sign out! Always remember to sign out of accounts, especially on public computers but also on your private device in case of theft.

Of course, protecting your physical assets is every bit as important as safeguarding your virtual ones – to talk to an experienced professional at Blackburn Alarms about security systems, CCTV, access control options and more, contact us today.