VirusTotal maintains that the data exposure was a consequence of human error and that no malicious actors were involved in the incident.
VirusTotal the threat analysis service owned by Google, has issued clarifications regarding its recent data exposure incident that affected approximately 5,600 of its registered customers. The incident, which occurred on June 29, involved the accidental upload of a CSV file containing limited customer information by an employee.
The leaked data consisted of company names, group names linked to VirusTotal, and email addresses of group administrators. While some of the affected records were associated with government organizations such as the United States Justice Department, FBI, NSA, and Cyber Command, VirusTotal has reassured its users that the incident was not caused by a cyber-attack or vulnerability within their system.
In a blog post released on Friday, VirusTotal extended its apologies to its customers and provided insights into the nature of the incident. According to Emiliano Martinez, head of product management at VirusTotal, the data exposure was the consequence of human error, and no malicious actors were involved in the incident.
Martinez emphasized that the leaked data was solely accessible to partners and corporate clients who utilize the Premium platform. This means that the information could not have been accessed by free account holders or anonymous users, mitigating the risk of exploitation by threat actors in social engineering attacks.
“We want to clarify unequivocally: This was not the result of a cyber attack or a vulnerability with VirusTotal. This was a human error, and there were no bad actors involved.”
Emiliano Martinez – VirusTotal
Shortly after the file was mistakenly uploaded, VirusTotal took swift action to remove it from their platform within an hour. The quick response was aided by vigilant VirusTotal customers who received alerts triggered by Yara rules searching for files containing their domains.
In the aftermath of the incident, VirusTotal has taken proactive steps to bolster the security and protection of customer data. New internal processes and technical controls have been put in place to minimize the likelihood of such incidents occurring in the future.
Addressing concerns regarding the possession of sensitive data by employees, VirusTotal clarified that the particular employee who inadvertently uploaded the data required access to the information for their job responsibilities.
While this data exposure event has highlighted the importance of employee training, VirusTotal’s swift response and transparency in addressing the issue will likely reassure its customer base and strengthen its commitment to safeguarding customer data.
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