Digital Master Keys
Digital locksmiths are referred to as cyber security experts. As defense engineers, they design systems to protect and fortify digital networks. From time to time someone forgets to lock a backdoor and all the juicy inside secrets spill out into the world. Sometimes the lock malfunctions without anyone noticing for a long period of time.
Remember the article we wrote a few months ago about Marriott Hotels leaking loads of digital data? Well, it turns out a program called Wazuh malfunctioned and left a bunch of security logs exposed. Security logs are the secret sauce to a network’s defenses, containing everything that needs to be known in order to exploit the system. It’s much easier to attack a fortress when you have the original blueprints in hand. Hackers stumbled onto this data before security experts even knew about the vulnerability.
According to CPO Magazine, “Researchers believe that a mishandled system update or some sort of maintenance may have caused Wazuh [a security program] to start making its security audit logs available to anyone who found and connected to the Pyramid Hotel Group server.”
The company’s digital lock malfunctioned and hackers targeted a commonly exploited network port. Hackers obtained the master key to their defense network. Anyone with access to the security logs had a wide plethora of administrative power over cybersecurity. Full names and email addresses were exposed. Furthermore, the server API key and password might allow hackers to mimic/spoof internal communications.
As you know by now, the rest resulted in millions of travelers’ personal information leaked out onto the internet. When people check in or check out a computer is used. However little or much information a traveler gives to the hotel receptionist, the main point is that their personal life should remain private. If you’ve been affected by the hotel data leaks or you think might have, Wiperts specializes in actively monitoring and removing personal information from the internet.
