Thursday, November 21, 2024

Caught within the cloud: alleged AT&T hacker arrested in Canada

Canadian authorities have arrested Alexander “Connor” Moucka, following a US request for his arrest. He is suspected of being concerned in hacks impacting quite a few main prospects of an organization referred to as Snowflake, utilized by AT&T to retailer the telco’s information.

Moucka was taken into custody on October 30 beneath a provisional warrant. Particulars of the costs stay undisclosed, because the Canadian Division of Justice has labeled the extradition request as confidential.

Nameless sources aware of the case have linked Moucka to the Snowflake-related hacks. Neither Moucka nor his authorized representatives have been accessible for remark for Bloomberg, which studies the story, and each the FBI and US Justice Division declined to talk on the matter.

The hacks focused firms together with AT&T, Dwell Nation, and Advance Auto Elements in June and July, with the hacker or hackers trying to extort these firms by threatening to promote stolen information on legal boards. Cybersecurity analysts from Google report that stolen credentials, accessible on cybercriminal boards, have been used to breach buyer accounts that lacked multifactor authentication.

Earlier this yr, a person claiming duty for the hacks advised Bloomberg by way of Telegram that they sought $20 million for the stolen information, although no proof has emerged that the majority information was offered. The assaults resulted within the theft of private info belonging to thousands and thousands of people.

What is the story?

Again in July 2024, AT&Tdisclosed {that a} main hack between Could and October 2022 compromised buyer name logs and telephone numbers by way of a third-party cloud supplier, Snowflake. This breach is separate from an April incident that affected 71 million customers and concerned older community information.

Whereas the stolen information didn’t embrace delicate particulars like names, addresses, or Social Safety numbers, specialists warn that decision logs and numbers might nonetheless be matched with private info utilizing on-line instruments, posing privateness considerations. This newest breach includes newer data than the April incident, elevating contemporary considerations about potential misuse if offered on the Darkish Internet, the place information from the earlier breach allegedly ended up.

This received senators left and proper asking questions on AT&T‘s actions.

US Senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley have been urgent AT&T for solutions on why it saved in depth name and textual content data on Snowflake, an “AI Knowledge Cloud”. In letters to AT&T’s CEO John Stankey and Snowflake, the senators questioned AT&T‘s causes for retaining months of buyer communication data and importing this information to a third-party platform. In addition they requested particulars on AT&T’s information retention insurance policies and use of Snowflake’s providers.

AT& said that cloud platforms like Snowflake allow essential information evaluation for community planning, effectivity, and customer support. AT&T added that its retention durations are primarily based on enterprise wants, authorized obligations, and information sort.

The breach, which cybersecurity agency Mandiant suggests might have been prevented, reportedly concerned outdated passwords, firewall gaps, and a scarcity of multifactor authentication. In response, the senators demanded that AT&T clarify how hackers accessed the Snowflake information and to totally disclose the breach’s impression on buyer privateness.

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