Fujitsu comment:Quora hack this afternoon
December 2018 by Sarah Armstrong-Smith, ?Head Continuity & Resilience at Fujitsu UK & Ireland
This afternoon it has been revealed that question-and-answer website Quora has been hacked, with the names and email addresses of 100 million users compromised.
Sarah Armstrong-Smith, ?Head Continuity & Resilience at Fujitsu UK & Ireland, commented on the news:
“This latest attack on Quora is proof that the number of cyberattacks and breaches is intensifying the closer we get to the winter holidays. People go out more frequently, spend more money – and hence share personal details more often – register for sales, coupons and exclusive deals. But by no means does this show that only the retail sector is at risk – last week Marriott Hotels suffered a breach and today it’s Quora. Any business or platform that holds customer data is under threat.
“The effort required to combat these breaches is industrial. Organisations are no longer fighting against individuals, but a sophisticated criminal industry, designed solely to access and exploit their data. But while cybercrime has risen on everyone’s agenda and organisations are increasingly prepared for attacks and have contingency plans in place, it is almost impossible to avoid cyber threads altogether. That’s why the way the situation is handled after the breach is crucial. Last week, Marriott was quick to respond and set up call centre and website in order to communicate easily with customers, and today we’re seeing Quora also acting promptly and releasing a security update in a question-and-answer format in an attempt to minimise the impact.
“Safeguarding customer data and business assets starts with a two-way communication process based on trust and transparency. As the number of these threats continue to increase exponentially, organisations need to make their resilience to cyberattacks and data breaches a top priority.”