On Thursday, cybercriminals claimed responsibility for a major data breach involving Accenture, a US multinational IT and consulting services company. The breach involved the private data of more than 30,000 employees, raising questions about the potential impact it might have on the company and its employees.
The compromised data includes email addresses, full names and broadcast dates. While more details on the nature of the data have not been revealed, it may include more sensitive information such as social security numbers and financial details.
The threat actor, identified as ‘888,’ had allegedly posted samples of the leaked data on dark web forums, further backing up their claims. The breached database contains data on 32,826 current and former employees. The company reportedly has 7,42,000 employees worldwide.
The cybercriminals behind the dataset listed claimed that the company was affected by a data breach in June 2024. While the data breach has not been confirmed, the company confirmed that the Lockbit ransomware group had stolen data from their systems in 2021.
Formerly, 888 had listed a dataset reportedly of 80,000 customers of Shell, a British multinational oil and gas company. At the time, Shell told Cybernews that the data belonged to a vendor providing Shell with anonymous shopping services.
Cybersecurity experts urge the company to investigate and notify the affected employees immediately. The potential effects of such a breach would include but are not limited to, identity theft, financial fraud, and other malicious activities involving sensitive information. The dataset was listed on the forum on June 19, 2024.
In 2023, the company partnered with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon and had the highest market share in managed security services.
The cybersecurity community reacted to the news by emphasising the importance of regular incident response and security measures. Accenture has yet to release an official statement regarding the incident.
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