News
Hackers Claim Breach of Senior Employee Account at Viz Media
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
CyberNews stated the hackers announced the alleged hack on an "underground data leak forum that's often utilized by initial access brokers, a subset of cybercriminals who trade access keys to companies." A screenshot from the data leak forum that CyberNews posted lists that the access is to a "Google Account" associated with Viz Media. The screenshot also states "Price is min 5 figs," likely referring to the asking price for the sale of the information. CyberNews stated only some of the alleged stolen data was posted online.
The hackers claimed to have stolen e-mails, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), licensing agreements, employee credentials, future business plans, employee social security numbers, invoices, and royalty statements.
Another screenshot posted by CyberNews allegedly shows access the hackers have, which includes a corporate Google Drive, Gmail accounts, Viz Media's internal dashboard, and access to Mediabox's royalty-management dashboard.
CyberNews' researchers investigated the post on the data leak forum, and said the senior executive could have "[fallen] victim to a social engineering attack leading to unauthorized access to [Viz Media's] internal systems." The news outlet added the hackers likely gained access to a single person's account.
CyberNews stated it had reached out to Viz Media and has yet to hear a reply. ANN similarly reached out to Viz Media about the situation. Although the company is looking into it, it had nothing to report as of press time.
CyberNews' researchers advised Viz Media should react quickly and catalog what data was likely compromised, as the stolen data "could be used to compromise more systems within the company, leading to convincing phishing messages to the company's partners."
ANN also reached out to Viz Media to ask if the alleged hack could have also included customer information. Again, Viz Media had nothing to report as of press time, but it is looking into the situation.
Viz Media's X/Twitter account was hacked in January.
Update: Removed some background information.
Source: CyberNews (Vilius Petkauskas) via Security Daily Review
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history