Acquirely offers businesses in Australia digital customer acquisition services through various forms of online marketing and lead generation.
However, Acquirely was storing some of this data out in the open on an unsecured cloud account.
As a result, the company exposed over 200,000 Australians to a wide range of online attacks and fraud.
Acquirely claims to work with many well-known Australian and global brands.
But rare are these times.
We often need days of investigation before we understand whats at stake or whos exposing the data.
Acquirely’s biggest clients, according to its website
Understanding a breach and its potential impact takes careful attention and time.
We work hard to publish accurate and trustworthy reports, ensuring everybody who reads them understands their seriousness.
Some affected parties deny the facts, disregarding our research or playing down its impact.
Acquirely’s biggest clients, according to its website
So, we need to be thorough andmake sure everything we find is correct and accurate.
S3 buckets are an increasingly popular enterprise cloud storage solution.
However, users must set up their security protocols manually to protect any data stored therein.
After our initial attempt at outreach failed, we tried the company again and contacted AWS in the meantime.
With no reply from either party, we contacted the Australian national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).
You may wish to try contacting Amazon Web Services directly with your concerns."
Acquirely had collected (and exposed) the data of over 200,000 people residing in Australia.
However, the people sharing their data likely expected the company would take some basic measures to protect it.
In a phishing campaign, criminals send victims fake emails and text messages imitating real businesses and organizations.
Finally, one of Acquirelys clients was a debt relief company.
As a result, they may be much more vulnerable to extortion or fraud, with devastating consequences.
For The Company
Acquirely may also suffer as a result of this data breach.
Potential future clients may be dissuaded from working with Acquirely and hire its competitors instead.
Theyre usually the result of an error by the owner of the bucket.
Amazon provides detailed instructions to AWS users to help them secure S3 buckets and keep them private.
To learn about data vulnerabilities in general, read ourcomplete guide to online privacy.
Our researchers use large-scale web scanners to search for unsecured data stores containing information that shouldnt be exposed.
They then examine each data store for any data being leaked.
Our team was able to access this S3 bucket because it was completely unsecured and unencrypted.
As ethical hackers, were obliged to inform a company when we discover flaws in their online security.
The purpose of this web mapping project is to helpmake the internet safer for all users.
We never sell, store, or expose any information we encounter during our security research.
About Us and Previous Reports
vpnMentoris the worlds largest VPN review website.
Our ethical security research team has discovered and disclosed some of the most impactful data breaches in recent years.
This has includedexposing the growing popularity of cybercrime groups on Telegram.
We also revealed how apopular Chinese game developer was leaking data from over 1 million people.
You may also want to read ourVPN Leak Report and Data Privacy Stats Report.
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