Every year, we hear about a major corporation being hacked. No matter the size of the business, weak links can always be identified in a network’s security. Let’s look at two of the biggest security leaks and how they could’ve been avoided.
The Victims: Sony Pictures and its Employees
In November of 2014, a hacker group calling themselves Guardians of Peace leaked personal information obtained from the computers of employees at Sony Pictures. As you may remember, this hack occurred because of the planned release of The Interview, a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. North Korean hackers carried out the attack because of the movie’s plot, which centered around the assassination of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
The breach exposed private information and messages from Sony employees, destroyed company data, and even led to the cancellation of The Interview’s theatrical release. Ultimately, Sony agreed to pay as much as $8 million in settlement claims to its employees.
What was the Weak Link?
Stuart McClure, CEO of the computer security firm Cylance, reviewed a database of Sony emails and found a pattern of phishing attempts. McClure discovered that Sony executives, including the CEO of Sony Pictures, received fake Apple ID verification emails. When these executives clicked a link that redirected them to a page that looked similar to an Apple ID login one, they entered their account information into a fake form. From there, the hackers used the Apple ID information to access Linkedin accounts and Sony network login information. The problem was that these employees were using the same password for all of their accounts.
Not only is it important to be vigilant and look for misspellings, and weird looking URLs for login pages that you’ve been linked to from an email, but you should also encourage everyone you know to set up different passwords for every account. Passwords should be unique to every account that you have.
The Victims: JP Morgan Chase and its Customers
In that same year, 2014, JP Morgan Chase experienced the largest intrusion of an American bank. As with the cases of Target and Sony, the breach could have been easily prevented. Despite spending $250 million on computer security each year, JP Morgan Chase only needed to install a simple security fix to an overlooked server on its network.
In the spring of 2014, the login credentials for a JP Morgan employee were stolen by hackers, resulting in the account information of 83 million households being compromised. But even with those stolen login credentials, JP Morgan Chase still could have prevented this breach.
What was the Weak Link?
Most large banks use a double-authentication scheme, or two-factor authentication. This means that in addition to entering your password for an account, you are also required to enter a second, one-time password to successfully gain access to the system. JP Morgan Chase’s security team’s failed to upgrade the aforementioned, overlooked server with this dual password scheme, creating a weakness in the system.
The reason why this server was overlooked leads us to another issue with JP Morgan Chase’s network. Security experts who reviewed this breach noted how difficult it is for a bank of JP Morgan Chase’s size to secure its network. When JP Morgan Chase acquires a new company, they integrate that acquisition’s network in with their own. This might be an easy way for JP Morgan Chase to take on new businesses, but this network setup elicits images of a jungle gym.
We can see the results of a network that is patched together and how easy it is to neglect one of many servers. We can also understand how someone might have a lapse in judgement and click on a phishing scam. Weak links exist in every network’s security system, but often the simplest solutions can either limit the damage or prevent a breach entirely
