Fujitsu’s breach and Microsoft’s legacy security

Japanese IT firm Fujitsu has another data breach on its hands that has put customers at risk.  After discovering malware on its corporate networks, the company conducted an internal investigation, which resulted in the discovery that sensitive personal data could be illegally exfiltrated.  As Fujitsu is a firm with numerous customers among the Japanese government, the potential for risk to national security rises.

This was also evidenced by several other breaches in recent years.  In one case, the company was forced to take its software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform offline due to a hack involving multiple clients, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, among others.  A software failure in another incident made it seem like files were missing from postmaster branches, which led to the wrongful conviction of over 900 employees for theft and fraud.  Yet another software flaw led to the breach of a cloud service also employed by government agencies and businesses.  Breaches like these have brought formal rebuke down upon Fujitsu.  The company’s lack of transparency in these matters likely hasn’t helped their case.

In other news, Microsoft has been placed at the center of a surprising data breach – surprising for how easy it was for the hackers to pull off.  Russian state hackers used what’s known as a password spray attack to gain access to an old, inactive account: one which nevertheless was enough for them to gain a foothold in the network.  Password spraying is a type of brute force attack which tries using the same password against multiple accounts until finally breaking through.  

Targeting Microsoft, these hackers gained a foothold in a legacy account and began moving through the rest of the network over a period of seven weeks.  During this time they stole emails and their attached documents, notably from senior leadership accounts and employees in the Cybersecurity and Legal teams. The initial account’s low level and legacy status on the network ladder made it a worthwhile target, as these accounts tend to have outdated security measures.

We often propound on the importance of legacy security, and here we see another example of the data risks of neglecting it.  For organizations of all sizes, encrypting data on legacy systems and devices is crucial.  NetLib Security’s Encryptionizer solution provides such a service, encrypting stored data out of the box.  With no additional programming required, Encryptionizer locks down sensitive databases under an impenetrable layer of protection.  When cyber criminals choose legacy systems as their target, don’t make it easy for them to saunter in unnoticed.