Data related to some of VirusTotal’s registered customers, such as names and email addresses, was leaked after an employee accidentally uploaded the information to a malware scanning platform.
The security incident, which consists of a database containing 5,600 names in a 313KB file, was first disclosed yesterday by Der Spiegel and Der Standard.
Launched in 2004, VirusTotal is a popular service that uses antivirus engines and website scanners to analyze suspicious files and URLs to detect malware types and malicious content. Acquired by Google in 2012 and became a subsidiary of Google Cloud’s Chronicle division in 2018.
When asked for comment, Google confirmed the leak and said it took immediate steps to remove the data.
“We are aware that one of our employees unintentionally distributed the customer group administrator’s email and part of the organization name on the VirusTotal platform,” a Google Cloud spokesperson told Hacker News. Told.
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“We removed the listing from our platform within an hour of it being posted. We are reviewing internal processes and technical controls to improve operations going forward.”
The data includes accounts linked to US public agencies such as the Cyber Command, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Security Agency (NSA).Other accounts belong to government agencies in Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom
Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) warned last year that automating the uploading of suspicious email attachments could lead to exposure of confidential information.
