Nikkei discloses third data breach in a month, 1.83 million records
Japan's Nikkei says hackers used stolen login details to reach a cloud system and exposed about 1.83 million records. About 150,000 held details such as names, emails or addresses. It is the company's third breach disclosure in about a month, and it says no misuse has been found so far.
Nikkei Inc., the Japanese business news group that owns the Financial Times, has disclosed a data breach that exposed about 1.83 million personal information records, BleepingComputer and ITmedia reported. It is the third security incident the company has disclosed in about a month.
Hackers used stolen credentials to get into a cloud system Nikkei uses for software development in the early morning of Oct. 7, according to a notice the company published Oct. 16, the outlets reported. It is not clear how the credentials were stolen, ITmedia reported.
About 150,000 of the records contained at least one of these: full names, email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers or dates of birth, BleepingComputer reported. Email addresses appeared in about 120,000 records. The other 1.68 million or so held only identifiers that cannot identify a person on their own, ITmedia reported. No credit card information was exposed, BleepingComputer reported.
Nikkei revoked the stolen credentials and notified Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission on Oct. 11, BleepingComputer reported. As of Oct. 16, it had found no sign that the data had been misused or leaked online, and no system outages or data tampering, ITmedia reported. People affected will be notified individually.
"We are working urgently to establish the extent of the damage and determine the cause, and will implement the necessary measures to strengthen security," Nikkei said, BleepingComputer reported.
The new breach follows two others. On Oct. 4, Nikkei disclosed two break-ins, ITmedia reported. In one, hackers got into an employee's Microsoft 365 account and sent about 9,000 spoofed emails. In the other, an employee's Google Workspace account was hacked, possibly exposing personal information on 1,646 employees and business partners. BleepingComputer reported that the Google Workspace break-in happened in late July.
Nikkei is Japan's largest business media company, with more than 10,100 employees and about $2.5 billion in annual revenue, BleepingComputer reported.
What we know: Hackers reached about 1.83 million records through stolen cloud credentials on Oct. 7.
What we don't: How the credentials were stolen and whether the data will be misused.
Where outlets agree BleepingComputer and ITmedia both report that stolen cloud credentials led to the exposure of about 1.83 million records at Nikkei, with no misuse found as of Oct. 16.
Where they differ The cited reports agree on the key facts so far.