The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has uncovered a data breach in which threat actors obtained a database holding a list of portal users.
The incident was disclosed last week by ETSI. It is still unclear if the attack was carried out for financial gain or if the hackers wanted to utilize the user list for espionage.
An independent, non-profit organization with headquarters in Europe is the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.
The organization is primarily concerned with creating international standards for information and communications technology (ICT) and telecommunications, including GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G, and others.
In the quickly developing world of telecommunications and digital technologies, ETSI is essential for assuring interoperability, compatibility, and efficient communication. More than 900 organizations from 65 different countries are members of ETSI.
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Insights of the Breach
The French National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) assisted the French-based organization in investigating this incident.
The ANSSI and the ETSI IT team worked together to investigate and fix the information systems after a cyberattack was noticed on the ETSI portal, the IT system dedicated to its members’ work.
“The vulnerability on which the attack was based has been fixed.” According to the data breach notification published by the ETSI.
“ETSI believes the database containing the list of their online users has been exfiltrated. Since the attack and under the guidance of ANSSI experts, ETSI has fixed the vulnerability, undertaken additional security actions, and significantly strengthened its IT security procedures.”
Reports say a representative declined to comment on whether the vulnerability was known or unknown at the time of the attack.
The company has asked all of its online users to change their passwords as a precaution; however, it is unknown if user credentials were included in the stolen information.
Director-general Luis Jorge Romero called the attack a “crisis” in a statement posted on the organization’s website and applauded ANSSI for helping the organization “determine the remedial actions to be taken, and to strengthen the security of our systems.”
“Transparency is at the root of ETSI, in our governance and technical work. We are very grateful for the knowledge and advice of the experts from the French National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI), who have helped us to determine the remedial actions to be taken, and to strengthen the security of our systems,” ETSI Director-General said.
Hence, the French data protection authority has been notified of the data breach, and a judicial inquiry — which is essentially the investigative stage of criminal proceedings in France — is currently ongoing, according to ETSI.
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