Europe
Piazza San Marco
Hackers have reportedly breached the hydraulic pump system at Piazza San Marco in Venice, an iconic location visited by millions each year.
Threat actors identifying as Infrastructure Destruction Squad or Dark Engine claimed they gained administrative access to the city’s flood defense system and threatened to disable protections, potentially flooding coastal areas. The alleged breach began in late March and involved control over the system’s interface. The attackers shared screenshots as proof and offered full root access for $600, aiming to expose vulnerabilities and apply political pressure.
This incident highlights the growing trend of attacks targeting operational technology (OT) systems that control critical infrastructure.
SourceHow it could affect your business
Attacks on operational technology systems are increasing, as compromising these environments can disrupt real-world infrastructure and services. Organizations managing such systems should segment OT from IT networks, enforce strict access controls and continuously monitor for unusual activity to reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
Europe
Basic-Fit
Basic-Fit, Europe’s largest gym and fitness chain, disclosed a data breach affecting the personal information of roughly 1 million members.
On April 13, the Netherlands-based company, which has more than 5 million members and 1,500 clubs across Europe, said that it detected unauthorized access to its systems. Although the intrusion was blocked within minutes, an investigation found that data belonging to active members in multiple countries had already been downloaded. The compromised information includes names, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and bank account details.
According to reports, approximately 1 million members across Spain, Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg have been affected. The threat actor behind the breach remains unknown, as no ransomware group has claimed responsibility.
SourceHow it could affect your business
Exposure at this scale can be used to fuel targeted phishing and social engineering attacks that leverage verified personal and financial details. Organizations should strengthen user awareness, monitor for unusual activity and ensure strong access controls are in place to limit data exposure.
North America
Vercel
American cloud application company Vercel disclosed a security breach that allowed threat actors to gain unauthorized access to its internal systems.
The incident originated from the compromise of Context.ai, a third-party AI tool used by a Vercel employee. The employee logged in using a Google Workspace account and granted the tool extensive permissions, including access to Google Cloud Platform resources. However, the tool had already been compromised, allowing attackers to leverage those permissions to move laterally into Vercel’s environment and potentially access internal systems.
While Vercel stated that no sensitive data was exposed, concerns arose after an anonymous individual shared screenshots on Telegram allegedly showing access to confidential information. The company is now working with Mandiant and other cybersecurity firms, notifying law enforcement and coordinating with Context.ai to assess the full scope of the incident.
SourceHow it could affect your business
Third-party tools can become easy entry points into internal systems when granted broad permissions. Organizations should carefully review access granted to external applications, enforce least-privilege policies and continuously monitor integrations to detect unusual activity early.
United States
McGraw Hill
American education and publishing company McGraw Hill said hackers exploited a Salesforce misconfiguration to access a portion of its internal data.
McGraw Hill recently identified unauthorized access to a limited set of data from a webpage hosted on Salesforce. The company stated that the activity appears to be part of a broader issue involving a misconfiguration within Salesforce’s environment affecting multiple organizations. It also clarified that the incident did not involve unauthorized access to its Salesforce accounts, customer databases, courseware or internal systems.
The breach came to light alongside claims by the ransomware group ShinyHunters, which said it had stolen 45 million Salesforce records.
SourceHow it could affect your business
Misconfigurations in widely used platforms can expose data across multiple organizations at once. Businesses should regularly audit configurations, limit data exposure on public-facing assets and monitor third-party platforms for unusual access patterns to reduce risk.
Europe
Inditex
Inditex, the parent company of Zara, identified unauthorized access to third-party-hosted databases containing information on customer transactions.
On April 15, the company confirmed that the breach originated in a security incident involving a former technology provider and affected multiple organizations operating internationally. Inditex said it immediately implemented security protocols and began notifying relevant authorities. It also stated that the affected database did not contain customer names, addresses, passwords or bank card details.
SourceHow it could affect your business
Third-party incidents like this highlight how external providers can become a source of exposure even when core systems remain secure. Organizations should assess vendor security posture, limit data sharing to what is necessary and maintain visibility into third-party data-handling practices to reduce risk.
