In: In a game of Data Breach Hot Potato, companies deny being source of data for sale online

Posted on by Dissent

Earlier this week, OpIndia reported:

After Facebook and Mobikwik, hackers have claimed to got access to another major tech giant in India. As per two posts by hackers on a hackers’ forum, they have gained access to Tata Communications servers. In the posts, the hackers are offering backdoor entry to anyone who is willing to pay $9000 for the servers.

Read more on OpIndia. They posted their story on April 12 and noted that they had reached out to Tata Communications but had not gotten any response — and that they would update if they did.

There was no update to that post that day, but there was a significant update the next day. When they heard from Tata, Tata denied having any leak. OpIndia investigated further and the hacker now claimed that access had not been direct, but rather through a third party — which was named at Route Mobile.

But Route Mobile has also denied any leak or breach.

For more on whether Route Mobile has had any security issue, see this article on NewIndianExpress.  Route Mobile is currently investigating the situation with the help of a third-party consultant.

The public was further alarmed after reading tweets by Rajshekhar Rajaharia that a firm responsible for generating one-time passwords used for authentication had been compromised:

So we have Tata denying a breach and Route Mobile denying but investigating.

But if the data up for sale on  the dark web is real, it is coming from somewhere and the source of that leak or breach needs to be shut down.  As @Rajaharia tweeted about the sale of OTPs: “This is really Scary!! #OTP and #2FA (Two Factor Authentication) was our last hope to protect our Online Transactions and Accounts. Now they are also available for sale.”

Update:  Rajaharia has kept investigating and posted this subsequently:

Category: Business SectorCommentaries and AnalysesNon-U.S.