Unsecured Survey Database Exposes Info of 8 Million People

guest · May 16, 2019

Unsecured Survey Database Exposes Info of 8 Million People
May 16, 2019
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ey-database-exposes-info-of-8-million-people/

An unsecured database has exposed the personal information of 8 million people from the U.S. who participated in online surveys, sweepstakes, and requests for free product samples.

When reviewing a sample of the records provided to BleepingComputer by Jain, it was shown that the records contained personal information such as their full name, address, email address, phone number, date of birth, gender, and IP address.
Also included in each record was the referrer, or page, where the submitted information came from.
Finding the database owner
At first it was difficult to get in touch with the owners, so Jain contacted Amazon who was hosting the database to alert them that it was unsecured and to assist in contacting the company and getting it secured.

In a statement to BleepingComputer, Ifficient stated that they secured the database on May 11th, 2019 after being contacted by Amazon. They further told us that even though Jain saw 130 million records in the database, the number of people affected is much smaller due to a large amount of duplicate "impression" records.
Click to expand...

"According to nearly all applicable state data breach notification statutes, this information does not constitute personal information. Most notably, we don't capture or store SSN, drivers license or state ID numbers, or financial account or payment card numbers. Regardless, we are currently taking steps to notify individuals for whom data sets defined by the applicable state statutes to constitute personal information was stored. We'll also be offering identity monitoring services to those individuals."
Responsible disclosure was appreciated
When researchers find exposed databases, in many cases they never receive a response or if they do, the companies are typically not appreciative. Ifficient, on the other hand, told us that they appreciate the work of independent researchers who try to secure data found on the Internet.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

Unsecured Survey Database Exposes Info of 8 Million People

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

Unsecured Survey Database Exposes Info of 8 Million People

guest Guest

Useful Searches