Analysis Summary

Casio has acknowledged that it was the victim of a ransomware attack earlier this month and warns that it also took sensitive personal information from job applicants, staff members, and some customers.

When Casio issued a warning about system interruption and service failures caused by unauthorized access to its networks over the weekend, the attack became public. The attack was attributed to the ransomware organization Underground, which made public a number of documents purportedly taken from the computers of the Japanese tech company.

Casio has released a fresh statement following the data leak, in which it acknowledges that its network was attacked and that confidential information was taken. Regarding the findings of its present inquiry, Casio reports that the following data has been verified as possibly tampered with:

• Personal information belonging to Casio and its connected firms' permanent and contract workers
• Personal information about some of Casio's affiliates and business partners
• Personal data of people who have previously had job interviews with Casio.
• Personal data of clients who use services offered by Casio and its associated businesses
• Information on agreements made with previous and present business partners
• Financial information on sales and invoicing
• Records from Casio and its affiliates that contain legal, financial, audit, human resources planning, sales, and technical data

Casio clarifies that credit card information is not included in the exposed set concerning customer data because payment data is not kept on its systems. Additionally, the Japanese company said that because service systems like ClassPad.net and CASIO ID are not hosted on the compromised server infrastructure, they were not impacted by the incident. The impact will probably grow as the inquiry goes on, so anyone who thinks they might be impacted is encouraged to keep an eye out for unsolicited communications.

In order to better assist individuals impacted by the data breach, Casio also asks internet users to refrain from disseminating any information that has been compromised online. Since earlier this week, the authorities have been informed about the incident, and as a result, the police and Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission are involved in the investigations and remedial efforts.

Impact

• Sensitive Data Theft
• Unauthorized Access
• Reputational Damage

Remediation

• Regularly change passwords for all accounts and use strong, unique passwords for sensitive accounts.
• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all accounts to add an extra layer of security to login processes.
• Consider the use of phishing-resistant authenticators to further enhance security. These types of authenticators are designed to resist phishing attempts and provide additional protection against social engineering attacks.
• Regularly monitor network activity for any unusual behavior, as this may indicate that a cyberattack is underway.
• Organizations need to stay vigilant and follow best practices for cybersecurity to protect their systems and data from potential threats. This includes regularly updating software and implementing strong access controls and monitoring tools.
• Develop a comprehensive incident response plan to respond effectively in case of a security breach or data leakage.
• Maintain regular backups of critical data and systems to ensure data recovery in case of a security incident.
• Adhere to security best practices, including the principle of least privilege, and ensure that users and applications have only the necessary permissions.
• Establish a robust patch management process to ensure that security patches are evaluated, tested, and applied promptly.
• Conduct security audits and assessments to evaluate the overall security posture of your systems and networks.
• Implement network segmentation to contain and isolate potential threats to limit their impact on critical systems.
• Never trust or open links and attachments received from unknown sources/senders.