Data from Netflix, TD Bank, Ford and other companies was left exposed for an unknown period of time on publicly configured cloud storage buckets operated by data integration and management company Attunity, according to the research team that discovered the error.
A researcher from UpGuard's Data Breach Research team found the three publicly accessible Amazon S3 buckets last May 13. The oldest of the three, which contained the most sensitive information, was uploaded in September 2014; however, it is not clear if the data was publicly accessible since that time.
In a blog post yesterday, UpGuard reports that Attunity quickly remedied the situation after it was alerted to the leaky buckets on May 16.
Acquired last May by the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based software company Qlik, Attunity says on its website that it provides data management services to more than 2,000 enterprises and half the Fortune 500. "A file with a client list found in the repository included a client list with a number of companies commensurate to that description," the blog post states.
Exposed Attunity customer information included various business documentation, system credentials, system information and personnel/employee information. In its blog post, UpGuard provided some specific examples of exposed information, including Netflix database authentication strings, a TD Bank software upgrade invoice, and a Ford project preparation slide.
Qlik provided SC Media with the following comment: "Attunity was notified in-mid May of an issue related to internal company data stored in AWS S3 buckets. Attunity personnel responded quickly to ensure that the data was secured... Following Qlik’s acquisition of Attunity in May, and upon becoming aware of the issue, Qlik applied its security standards and best practices to the Attunity environments, including monitoring by Qlik’s 24x7 security operations center."
"We are still in the process of conducting a thorough investigation into the issue and have engaged outside security firms to conduct independent security evaluations. We take this matter seriously and are committed to concluding this investigation as soon as possible. At this point in the investigation, indications are that the only external access to data was by the security firm that contacted us," the statement continued.
