Samsung was hacked… again

Samsung, a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate, joined the ever-growing list of high-profile companies with cyber security problems. Earlier this week, the consumer electronics giant confirmed a second data breach for this year after systems located in the USA were hacked. The systems were compromised in July 2022. In the following month, Samsung found proof that hackers were able to access and steal personal information of Samsung users. As a result, the tech giant took action to secure the security loopholes and issued a statement in September 2022.

Samsung confirmed that the exposed information did not contain social security numbers nor credit card details. However, data such as date of birth, address, full name, email, user demographic, and product registration information, is likely now in the hands of the hackers.

Samsung has not yet provided information about how many users have been affected by the breach. However, the company has begun notifying impacted customers about the security incident. Additionally, if a user has not yet received an email from them, the chances that a notification email will arrive are relatively high. Staying alert is essential as the cybercriminal could potentially use the stolen personal info for phishing attempts against the victims.

The 40+ years old Korean tech company stated that they deeply regret any inconvenience the breach is causing to the company’s customers. The statement issued for this breach is similar to the one they gave in early 2022 when the company was hacked again.

Samsung reminded its US user base that users might have the option to get a free annual credit report from Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. However, the multi-billion-dollar company will not reimburse the affected people for credit reports. Samsung confirmed that consumer devices were not involved in this incident and invited its customers to continue using Samsung products and services as usual. However, Samsung did not explain why it took them more than a month to fix and report the cyber security incident.

Even though the hack involved only Samsung’s servers, the fact that the company keeps the number of affected users a secret leads us to believe that the breach is massive. Hopefully, Samsung’s notion that consumer devices and in-app control interfaces did not get compromised in the hack is correct. Unfortunately, even large corporations such as Samsung can become victims of cybercrime, in this case, for the second time in 2022. Therefore, adequate antivirus software protection is a must for individuals and businesses of all sizes.