2019 was a year where numerous data disasters occurred, security breaches that made it so that the average internet user started to stop being so trusting of the various tech companies that were out there as well as the claims these companies were making with regards to the protection of user data as well as their overall ability to provide this level of protection in the first place. It was only a matter of time before 2020 saw its first big data breach scandal, and the time has finally come with Microsoft finally admitting that there had been a serious security breach occurring between the 5th and 31st of December.
What essentially happened was that a database that was used internally for the purposes of storing analytics pertaining to support cases consumers had filed had not been properly secured. Due to a misconfiguration of their security protocols for that database it was essentially left open for anyone to access if they tried, and this resulted in a whopping quarter billion users account details being available for anyone to steal.
An independent security researcher by the name of Bob Diachenko was the first person to spot this database and reported it to Microsoft on the 29th of December, and it took Microsoft a couple of days to patch the loophole and secure all of these accounts once again.
However, the fact of the matter is that this breach occurred over a period of 26 days which means that there was plenty of time for data to have been stolen. If you are contacted by anyone claiming to be Microsoft customer support you should be wary of them because of the fact that it is very possible that they are malicious actors using stolen data to try and trick you into downloading a virus or something even worse.
Read next: 12 Reasons to Strengthen Your Security Posture Now (And How to Do It)
What essentially happened was that a database that was used internally for the purposes of storing analytics pertaining to support cases consumers had filed had not been properly secured. Due to a misconfiguration of their security protocols for that database it was essentially left open for anyone to access if they tried, and this resulted in a whopping quarter billion users account details being available for anyone to steal.
An independent security researcher by the name of Bob Diachenko was the first person to spot this database and reported it to Microsoft on the 29th of December, and it took Microsoft a couple of days to patch the loophole and secure all of these accounts once again.
However, the fact of the matter is that this breach occurred over a period of 26 days which means that there was plenty of time for data to have been stolen. If you are contacted by anyone claiming to be Microsoft customer support you should be wary of them because of the fact that it is very possible that they are malicious actors using stolen data to try and trick you into downloading a virus or something even worse.
Read next: 12 Reasons to Strengthen Your Security Posture Now (And How to Do It)
