Another example of how your data is not safe. Medical records anyone? Think of the power of a list of cialis users. I would be surprised if its not out there.
https://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2018/07/09/breach-impacts-340-million-americans/and earlier:
https://www.wired.com/story/exactis-database-leak-340-million-records/Have you ever heard of Exactis? According to their website, the company states, “Exactis is a leading compiler and aggregator of premium business and consumer data”. They go on to tout “With over 3.5 billion records (updated monthly), our universal data warehouse is one of the largest and most respected in the digital and direct marketing industry”. That is a ton of data. One would assume they have some serious security in place to keep that information safe. But, we all know how bad it is to assume…
According to a researcher, Vinny Troia, that was certainly not the case. While researching the lack of security of ElasticSearch, another database, he found Exactis was actually leaving personal data available to online users, without any form of firewall. The data found included names, email addresses, physical addresses, personal likes and dislikes, names of any children, as well as their ages, and more. Although, it is important to note, social security numbers were not listed. Even without having socials posted, if this information was obtained by hackers, they could certainly create false profiles or targeted social engineering attacks.
After being notified of the breach, Exactis worked to resolve the security gap. As of today, the information is no longer available for public viewing. Although, that does not mean damage hasn’t already been done. It remains unclear if the information was found by a malicious third-party. However, Troia states it would not have been difficult to find.
