Yesterday, the security team cyber news It has been announced that it is likely to be the largest data breach in history. In collaboration with security researcher Bob Diachenko, the Cyber News team discovered an open instance on his web containing billions of exposed records. This breach amounted to a staggering 12 terabytes of information and his 26 billion records, and has been dubbed the Mother of All Breaches (MOAB for short).
MOAB instances were found to contain leaked data from major online brand names, from Twitter and LinkedIn to Adobe and Wattpad. Tencent, the Chinese messaging app, had the highest number of leaked records, alone with 1.4 billion. Additionally, records from global government agencies were also found.
Greg Day, SVP and Global Field CISO Cyber Reason, I commented as follows: “As we head into the sixth anniversary of GDPR, it is clear that many businesses face the challenge of quickly detecting increasingly complex cyber-attacks, with average response times extending into the hundreds of days. There are a lot of them.”
As a result, the combined records of all these consumers are now available to anyone on the web. And wMuch of this information likely comes from previous breaches, but there is no doubt that there is also data in the mix that we haven’t seen yet.
One question that remains is who or people are behind MOAB. Could be a threat actor or access broker. So it’s likely someone who is interested in having easy access to billions of records.
In some cases, MOAB may contain duplicate data, but the impact is hardly reduced. The impact consumers face from this breach cannot be understated. For hackers, this treasure trove of data mines becomes an incredibly easy way to obtain a target’s PII (Personally Identifiable Information).
according to Paul Bischoff, Consumer Privacy Advocate; Compatec, “With a single query, a hacker can learn everything about you that has been leaked online, from your old passwords to your hobbies and interests. Over time, these databases become more complete, allowing victims to It makes it harder to avoid fraud and other crimes.”
This information can then be used for phishing, credential fraud, and identity theft.
The impact can be enormous. In fact, given that many consumers reuse usernames and passwords across multiple online platforms, the impact of this MOAB could be even more far-reaching than what already exists.
Erfan Shadabi, Cybersecurity Expert at Data Security Specialist Comfort AG, agree and explain it, “The potential impact of MOAB on consumers is unprecedented, with researchers highlighting the risk of a tsunami of credential stuffing attacks. It is especially powerful because it is
So what can we do about this? can Is there anything I should do?
according to Roger Grimes, Data Driven Defense Evangelist Knowby 4, Lack of data privacy is almost a given at this point. “I think most people around the world right now believe that at least some of their personal information is publicly available on the Internet. It’s a sad fact of life that our personal information I wonder what kind of impact it will have on young people and society as a whole to grow up in a world where the world is no longer private.”
But that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless.
Chris Hauk, Consumer Privacy Champion pixel privacy, We suggest some important ways for users to protect themselves. “I have long encouraged all Internet users to act as if their personal data were available anywhere on the web. This means you will need to double-check your login information. Users should also remain wary of phishing emails, text messages, and phone calls from parties using the data in the database.”
It is also important for parties to check whether their personal information has been involved in a breach.This can be done with a handy tool Personal information check tool On a cyber news site. By entering an email or phone number, a consumer can find out whether his relevant PII has been published online.
Tamara Kirchleitner, Senior Intelligence Operations Analyst afferent, He added that it’s not just individuals who need to be vigilant, but also organizations. “It is important for organizations to prioritize data protection and invest in a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. This includes awareness training, secure password managers, security audits, robust encryption, and incident response plans. I will.”
Tom Gaffney, Cybersecurity Expert F-Secure: “Cases like this highlight the need for individuals to be proactive in understanding how to protect their data and reduce risk. Our recent research shows that British people We found that almost a third (29%) of respondents don’t know what steps they can take to reduce the risk of their data being compromised.”
The outlook after becoming the mother of all violations is certainly dire. But only time will tell how everything will unfold. In the meantime, if at-risk consumers and organizations take the right steps today, we may all have a chance of collectively coming out unscathed.