Careless Oversight Causes Nissan Breach showing even the world’s largest companies can’t claim immunity to hacking, data breaches, and momentary lapses in judgment.
Nissan is a classic case in point.
Recently, due to a careless oversight causes Nissan breach, leaving default admin credentials in place on the part of the company’s network.
Because of the careless oversight, a third party easily breached its network and gained access to some 20 gigabytes’ worth of code residing in usually well-protected corporate repositories. The vast cache included source code for most of the company’s mobile apps and a wide range of diagnostic tools. The cache also contained code and other documentation relating to market research, client acquisition, and its NissanConnect service.
A Swedish developer named Tillie Kottmann analyzed both the repository contents and the anatomy of the Nissan breach itself. Kottmann discovers that once an unknown hacker finds the default admin credentials, a torrent link for the source code collection begins making the rounds online and is widely shared. It potentially puts the contents into the hands of thousands of hackers worldwide.
Kottman’s company is in the habit of maintaining a secure repository of all compromised data like the Nissan Breach and often works with the companies who suffer incidents like this one to help improve their security.
In this case, Nissan NA reached out to Kottmann and asked her to delete her repository copy. She complied with that request.
Silver Lining
If there’s a silver lining, it lies in the fact that the repository didn’t contain sensitive customer or payment card data. So if you’re a Nissan customer, there’s nothing for you to do or worry about the Nissan Breach.
However, the loss of control over the proprietary data could be a major issue for the company. Who knows what the scope and scale of the fallout might be. In any case, the situation is still unfolding, and it bears watching.
