Hackers Hit A Major US Insurance Firm Exposing Details Of Nearly 1.4M Customers
The company stated that malicious actors were able to “obtain personally identifiable data related to the majority of Allianz Life's customers, financial professionals, and select Allianz Life employees, using a social engineering technique." Immediately after the breach was discovered, it reported the incident to the FBI. Concerning the level of damage inflicted by the hackers, Allianz Life has assured customers that there is no evidence that its "network or other company systems" have been compromised.
While Scattered Spider has been linked to attacks on several insurance companies in the U.S., security researchers have traced this particular attack to the ShinyHunters extortion group, which is known for using social engineering techniques to lure victims into compromising security infrastructures.
This group, infamous for causing data breaches and extorting victims, rose to prominence in 2020. The hackers have been known to exploit vulnerabilities in cloud environments and software. This is confirmed by the recent attack on Allianz Life's database, where the gang targeted a third-party, cloud-based CRM system.
These attacks have continued to increase in scale. Earlier this month, we reported hacker activity on an airline that exposed the dietary information of 10,000 customers and another hack which forced a 158-year-old company to shut down. These and many other examples only emphasize the need for organizations to prioritize and strengthen their security architecture.
