In yet another shocking incident, up to 14.2 million email accounts from six major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were breached at KDDI Corporation in Japan. Major data breaches across the globe have leaked more than 75 million emails, customer details, feedback, critical information, and more about individuals.

The latest data breach happened at KDDI Corporation, which is one of the largest telecommunications companies in Japan, on June 17. Although the attack was detected and blocked instantly, this has left more than 14 million records at large and under investigation for potential aftermath.

KDDI is a major telecom player in Japan and provides fixed-line, mobile, cloud, broadband, data center, IoT, and other digital services. With 60,000+ employees, it currently operates in Japan and serves various enterprise customers across international markets. 

KDDI further mentions that the data breach happened because of a vulnerability found in a third-party software used for email systems. The authorities are currently investigating the matter, including the impact of the potential data breach on a major stage targeting customers across six ISP operations, i.e., Chubu Telecommunications, BIGLOBE, Nifty, STNet, JCOM, and KDD Web Communications. 

The extent of the data breach is still being assessed; however, KDDI mentions it could’ve exposed email addresses and passwords that were stored in hashed form. It didn’t disclose the percentage of passwords saved in encrypted form that are difficult to decipher, while those saved in plain text are obvious. It has urged customers to change their passwords and block any unauthorized access to their respective accounts. 

Data breaches are common, but here are your remedial steps

As an individual, you must take proactive steps to stay a step ahead of data breaches. 

• Set up unique password combinations, separate for each account, to discourage single points of failure.
• Enable multi-factor authentication via SMS, authenticator apps, or a hardware key (most secure).
• Keep all your devices updated with security patches to ensure vulnerabilities are fixed.
• Limit exposing your personal data, as this could help data brokers and attackers create credible hacks to pierce into your system.
• Freeze, limit, or restrict your credit card wherever used, to ensure limited or reduced damage in case of a breach.
• Avoid clicking on phishing emails or WhatsApp messages as these can be spammy, dubious, or unknown links and might turn hostile.

Wrapping Up!

With so many apps, accounts, websites, and interfaces, it becomes impossible to set up and remember different passwords for each of these platforms; however, it is a task to remember them all. Sometimes, organizations get breached because they use too many tools that make it difficult to enforce rules and privileges, leaving gaps in the middle. 

Need to know how you can safeguard your employees, customers, and data, secured 24/7? Call us at 04 210 1900 or email us at info@cbt.ae, and we will arrange a quick call to assess and work on fortifying your cybersecurity stature.