Japanese media giant Nikkei, owner of the Financial Times, has disclosed a data breach impacting over 17,000 employees and business partners. Attackers gained access after compromising an employee’s computer with malware, stealing their authentication credentials, and using them to access the company’s Slack environment.
Business Impact
The breach exposed sensitive internal communications and personal information. This incident highlights the risk of “island hopping” where one compromised service (an employee’s PC) is used to pivot to a high-value data store (the corporate Slack instance), leading to a significant data breach and reputational damage.
Why It Happened
The root cause was an endpoint compromise (malware infection) that led to credential theft. The lack of, or bypass of, strong MFA on the Slack account then allowed the attacker to gain unauthorized access and exfiltrate data.
Recommended Executive Action
Ensure that all third-party SaaS applications, especially collaboration tools like Slack and Teams, are protected with phishing-resistant Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). This incident proves that a simple password is not enough to protect critical communication platforms.
Hashtags: #DataBreach #Nikkei #Slack #SaaS #InfoSec #CyberSecurity #CredentialTheft #MFA