Uh oh. Malaysian satellite television provider Astro has experienced data breach for the second time within the span of 14 months.
This time, 0.2% of its customers had their personal data such as names, national identity card numbers, gender, race, address, and date of birth compromised.
To put the numbers into perspective, Astro states that it serves up to "23 million individuals in 5.7 million households" on its website. You do the math.
This time, 0.2% of its customers had their personal data such as names, national identity card numbers, gender, race, address, and date of birth compromised.
To put the numbers into perspective, Astro states that it serves up to "23 million individuals in 5.7 million households" on its website. You do the math.
In an announcement on its website, Astro assured its users that no financial information were obtained by the hackers.
Thankfully the IT team were quick to discover the unauthorized access and managed to put a stop to it.
The media organization, however, declined to reveal further information on the matter because Malaysian authorities are currently looking into the case. Those who had their data compromised have been notified as well.
Thankfully the IT team were quick to discover the unauthorized access and managed to put a stop to it.
The media organization, however, declined to reveal further information on the matter because Malaysian authorities are currently looking into the case. Those who had their data compromised have been notified as well.
"We informed the police, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission and the Department of Personal Data Protection.
We are working closely with the authorities to address this issue. We are not able to comment on the incident to facilitate ongoing police investigations," the statement reads.
We are working closely with the authorities to address this issue. We are not able to comment on the incident to facilitate ongoing police investigations," the statement reads.
This is the second incident following a breach which was reported by Lowyat.net in June 2018.
During that particular breach, some 60,000 Astro IPTV users had their personal information sold online for US$716 per 10,000 records.
However, Astro is not the only company to suffer from data breaches in recent years. To date, there has been a significant rise in hacking activities especially targeting huge companies.
Reddit, Bloomingdale, Toyota, Philippine-based pawnshop Cebuana Lhuillier and Jollibee, along with Singapore's very own Ministry of Health (MOH) had also experienced hackers making unauthorized access into their websites.
So grave is the situation that cyber-attacks and data breaches are now considered the fourth and fifth serious global risks according to the World Economic Forum 2019.
So grave is the situation that cyber-attacks and data breaches are now considered the fourth and fifth serious global risks according to the World Economic Forum 2019.
Much of these hackers are after personal or financial information of people which they would either sell or use for their own gains.
Typically they tend to target large businesses, banks, medical or healthcare providers, government and military departments, and educational institutes.
Typically they tend to target large businesses, banks, medical or healthcare providers, government and military departments, and educational institutes.
Cover image sourced from Marketing Magazine.
No comments:
Post a Comment