Deloitte firm suffered data breach when it was hit last year by a cyber attack. The incident affected confidential emails and plans of at least six of its clients. Firm mentioned that attack was privileged, unrestricted ‘access to all areas.
Affected information also included usernames, passwords, IP addresses, architectural diagrams for businesses and health information.
As per the statement “In response to a cyber incident, Deloitte implemented its comprehensive security protocol and began an intensive and thorough review including mobilizing a team of cybersecurity and confidentiality experts inside and outside of Deloitte.”
“As part of the review, Deloitte has been in contact with the very few clients impacted and notified governmental authorities and regulators,” the company added.
As per the source, the exact duration was not known to the company.
“I think it’s unfortunate how we have handled this and swept it under the rug,” the source told Krebs. “It wasn’t a few emails like reported. They accessed the entire email database and all admin accounts. But we never notified our advisory clients or our cyber Intel clients.”
Raytheon chief strategy officer for cyber services Josh Douglas mentioned that data was not protected properly. “Two-factor authentication … is a basic part of cyber hygiene, and while it might not have prevented the intrusion altogether, it would have at least slowed the attackers and forced them to use more sophisticated methods,” he said.
He added that 2FA alone isn’t enough. “Organizations need to hunt threats to their network proactively and adopt an incident response plan that prevents or limits the exfiltration of sensitive data,” he said. “Comprehensive cybersecurity is especially important in the era of cloud computing, where companies are storing sensitive data remotely. As we tell our clients, cloud computing puts your information on someone else’s computer — so it’s vital to protect the cloud exactly as you would your own servers.”
“Some key elements to such a strategy are an optimally deployed and tuned SIEM platform leveraging machine learning, a combination of internal and external expertise actively engaged in analysis, and the use of deception technology to identify active attackers and suspicious behavior,” Netsurion CISO John Christly said.
VASCO Data Security CMO John Gunn mentioned growing trends among hacker to attack other confidential. ”This was first evidenced by the successful attack on newswire services that yielded hackers more than $100 million of insider trading profits, and more recently with the successful breach of the SEC for confidential information on publicly traded companies,” he said.
“Firms such as Deloitte that have troves of sensitive, non-public information that could be used for illegal trading activity will find themselves increasingly in the cross-hairs of sophisticated hacking organizations,” Gunn added.
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