What happened in the Intelimost data breach?
Twingate Team
•
May 13, 2024
In March 2019, a spam operation called Intelimost targeted millions of email users by sending messages that appeared to come from familiar contacts. The breach involved an exposed Elasticsearch database containing millions of unique email addresses and plain text passwords. These credentials were used to access victims' mailboxes and customize the spam sent from their accounts. The incident was discovered by security researcher Bob Diachenko, who found the exposed database and helped mitigate the situation.
How many accounts were compromised?
The breach impacted data related to approximately 3.07 million individuals.
What data was leaked?
The data exposed in the breach included email addresses, plain text passwords, and potentially compromised mailbox contents.
How was Intelimost hacked?
The spammer used these stolen credentials to access victims' email accounts, scrape recently sent emails, and send personalized spam messages to the recipients of those emails. The breach was discovered when a security researcher found the server leaking the entire operation due to the spammer's failure to set a password.
Intelimost's solution
In response to the data breach, Intelimost took action to enhance its security measures and prevent future hacking incidents. Although specific details are not available, it is likely that the company removed any malware and backdoors used by the attackers, improved security protocols, and collaborated with cybersecurity experts for a thorough investigation. Additionally, Intelimost may have notified affected customers and encouraged them to change their passwords as a precautionary measure.
How do I know if I was affected?
It is unclear whether Intelimost reached out to affected users following the breach. If you believe you may have been affected and have not received a notification, you can visit Have I Been Pwned to check if your credentials were compromised in this or any other data breach.
What should affected users do?
In general, affected users should:
Change Your Password: Immediately update your password for the breached account. Make sure the new password is strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.
Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on the breached account and consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
Where can I go to learn more?
For more information on the Intelimost data breach, check out the following news articles:
Rapidly implement a modern Zero Trust network that is more secure and maintainable than VPNs.
What happened in the Intelimost data breach?
Twingate Team
•
May 13, 2024
In March 2019, a spam operation called Intelimost targeted millions of email users by sending messages that appeared to come from familiar contacts. The breach involved an exposed Elasticsearch database containing millions of unique email addresses and plain text passwords. These credentials were used to access victims' mailboxes and customize the spam sent from their accounts. The incident was discovered by security researcher Bob Diachenko, who found the exposed database and helped mitigate the situation.
How many accounts were compromised?
The breach impacted data related to approximately 3.07 million individuals.
What data was leaked?
The data exposed in the breach included email addresses, plain text passwords, and potentially compromised mailbox contents.
How was Intelimost hacked?
The spammer used these stolen credentials to access victims' email accounts, scrape recently sent emails, and send personalized spam messages to the recipients of those emails. The breach was discovered when a security researcher found the server leaking the entire operation due to the spammer's failure to set a password.
Intelimost's solution
In response to the data breach, Intelimost took action to enhance its security measures and prevent future hacking incidents. Although specific details are not available, it is likely that the company removed any malware and backdoors used by the attackers, improved security protocols, and collaborated with cybersecurity experts for a thorough investigation. Additionally, Intelimost may have notified affected customers and encouraged them to change their passwords as a precautionary measure.
How do I know if I was affected?
It is unclear whether Intelimost reached out to affected users following the breach. If you believe you may have been affected and have not received a notification, you can visit Have I Been Pwned to check if your credentials were compromised in this or any other data breach.
What should affected users do?
In general, affected users should:
Change Your Password: Immediately update your password for the breached account. Make sure the new password is strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.
Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on the breached account and consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
Where can I go to learn more?
For more information on the Intelimost data breach, check out the following news articles:
Rapidly implement a modern Zero Trust network that is more secure and maintainable than VPNs.
What happened in the Intelimost data breach?
Twingate Team
•
May 13, 2024
In March 2019, a spam operation called Intelimost targeted millions of email users by sending messages that appeared to come from familiar contacts. The breach involved an exposed Elasticsearch database containing millions of unique email addresses and plain text passwords. These credentials were used to access victims' mailboxes and customize the spam sent from their accounts. The incident was discovered by security researcher Bob Diachenko, who found the exposed database and helped mitigate the situation.
How many accounts were compromised?
The breach impacted data related to approximately 3.07 million individuals.
What data was leaked?
The data exposed in the breach included email addresses, plain text passwords, and potentially compromised mailbox contents.
How was Intelimost hacked?
The spammer used these stolen credentials to access victims' email accounts, scrape recently sent emails, and send personalized spam messages to the recipients of those emails. The breach was discovered when a security researcher found the server leaking the entire operation due to the spammer's failure to set a password.
Intelimost's solution
In response to the data breach, Intelimost took action to enhance its security measures and prevent future hacking incidents. Although specific details are not available, it is likely that the company removed any malware and backdoors used by the attackers, improved security protocols, and collaborated with cybersecurity experts for a thorough investigation. Additionally, Intelimost may have notified affected customers and encouraged them to change their passwords as a precautionary measure.
How do I know if I was affected?
It is unclear whether Intelimost reached out to affected users following the breach. If you believe you may have been affected and have not received a notification, you can visit Have I Been Pwned to check if your credentials were compromised in this or any other data breach.
What should affected users do?
In general, affected users should:
Change Your Password: Immediately update your password for the breached account. Make sure the new password is strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.
Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on the breached account and consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
Where can I go to learn more?
For more information on the Intelimost data breach, check out the following news articles:
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