- 1.4TB of data was allegedly stolen from Nike by hacker group WorldLeaks
- Only internal Nike data is included; no customer records
- The hackers focus on data theft rather than encryption and traditional ransomware
The massively popular sportswear company Nike is currently investigating a potential breach that could result in the theft of as much as 1.4TB of data. The group of threat actors known as WorldLeaks claims to have obtained internal data and included a sample to demonstrate its relevance to design and manufacturing.
For Nike customers, this is the best possible news, as it means none of their personal information was stolen. Your credit card information, addresses, phone numbers, and other data are secure, though with the recent breach involving Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, and other services, maybe they're not.
What's happening at Nike?
WorldLeaks is a well-known hacker group, and this appears to be its first time targeting Nike. In fact, this is one of the rare cases in which Nike has been involved in a cybersecurity incident.
"We always take consumer privacy and data security very seriously," a spokesperson said in a statement to The Register. "We are investigating a potential cybersecurity incident and are actively assessing the situation."
It's worth noting that in its statement, Nike neither confirmed nor denied the breach, so we're left to wonder if it's legitimate or a false claim from WorldLeaks. Based on the group's track record and the fact that Nike didn't outright deny a breach, I'd assume it's real, but we'll have to wait to see if more information comes out.
Interestingly, WorldLeaks isn't known to use an encryptor or any other form of ransomware. Instead, it just steals the files. Perhaps it could ask Nike for money in exchange for not releasing the files, or it might just be looking to cause some havoc.
For now, the data hasn't been shared anywhere, so we can only take WorldLeaks at its word. And again, it appears to be just internal Nike data that was stolen, with customer data such as credit cards, phone numbers, and addresses remaining secure.
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