In January 2024, an exposed GitHub token led to a significant breach of The New York Times' repositories. The incident was initially identified and addressed swiftly by the company, but details have only recently emerged. The breach came to light after the stolen data was posted on the 4chan message board. An anonymous user shared a torrent link to a 273GB archive containing the pilfered data, marking one of the most substantial leaks in recent memory.
The leaked data includes around 5,000 repositories, comprising 3.6 million files. A notable portion of this data contains IT documentation, infrastructure tools, and a variety of source code. Among the stolen information is the source code for the popular game Wordle, which The New York Times acquired in 2022. The leak was first noticed by VX-Underground, a group known for monitoring and documenting malware samples and cybersecurity incidents.
The threat actor responsible for the leak reportedly accessed the repositories using an exposed GitHub token. This token granted them unauthorised access to the company’s code, enabling them to download and leak a vast amount of data. The breach's details were confirmed by The New York Times, which clarified that the exposed credentials were for a cloud-based third-party code platform, specifically GitHub.
The New York Times assured that the breach did not affect its internal corporate systems or its operations. In an official statement, the company highlighted that continuous monitoring for anomalous activity is part of their security measures. They emphasised that there was no indication of unauthorised access to Times-owned systems, underscoring their proactive approach in identifying and mitigating the breach promptly.
This leak is the second pressing incident disclosed on 4chan within the same week. Earlier, a leak involving 415MB of internal documents for Disney's Club Penguin game was reported. Sources indicate that this leak was part of a larger breach of Disney’s Confluence server, resulting in the theft of 2.5 GB of internal corporate data. It remains unclear if the same individual or group is responsible for both the New York Times and Disney breaches.
The breach of The New York Times' GitHub repositories stresses upon the importance of stringent digital security measures. As companies increasingly rely on cloud-based platforms for their operations, ensuring the security of access credentials and continuous monitoring for unauthorised activities are crucial steps in safeguarding sensitive information.
Apparently, GhostSec exposed 20GB of data that involved source code relating to face recognition and motion detection systems of the Iranian software company – Fanap – which is appointed as a comprehensive surveillance system by the Iranian government, monitoring its citizens.
Following the confirmation, GhostSec revealed the intentions of making the data public and has also made a telegram channel ‘Iran Exposed’ to share further information about the breach. It says it is planning to share pieces of the Behnama code, along with various components including configuration files and API data, and that after all the data has been uploaded, detailed explanations will be given.
"This is not about technology and software, it's about the privacy of the people, civil liberties and a balance of power[…]Also publishing the source code for the public presenting this Fanap's lovely AI face recognition and various other privacy invading features and tools. We're simply making the fight a bit more equal," says GhostSec.
The group claims to have found equipment for facial recognition-based video surveillance, utilized in the Pasargad Bank Car GPS and tracking system, as well as a car numberplate identification system—which may have an impact on hijab alerts—and a facial recognition system used for producing ID cards.
Additionally, it claims that the Single Sign-On (SSO) platform, which the regime uses for online user authentication, is connected to the Fanap system. According to cybersecurity firm Cyberint, "This integration compiles intricate aspects of citizens’ lives, not only to determine access privileges for services but also to construct a virtual profile for facial recognition.”
"The group maintains that this evaluation is rooted in the software code, substantiating indisputable evidence of the software’s capabilities and deployment," adds Cyberint.
GhostSec initially claimed responsibility for taking down the fanap-infra.com website but later disclosed that a different website connected to the Fanap software company was only accessible within Iran. In addition, the company's primary GitHub repository was made private, probably in response to the GhostSec attack. "That mean[s], they are scared. That mean[s] it's time to hit harder," GhostSec said.
Vodafone launched an inquiry after a group of hackers claimed that they stole a hundred GBs of source codes from the telecom company. The cybercrime group calls itself 'Lapsus$," which claims to have obtained around 200 GBs of source code files, representing around 5,000 GitHub repositories. According to a statement in an email, Vodafone confirmed that it knows about the situation, and an investigation has been started.
The company said that it is currently enquiring about the claim with law agencies to verify its credibility. But, in general, the types of repositories referenced in the claim have proprietary source code and don't contain customer data.
As of now, the hackers have not exposed any Vodafone source code which they claim to have stolen. However, they are asking tens of thousands of users that subscribed to their Telegram channel to what leak next- Vodafone, e-commerce company MercadoLibre, or Portuguese media company Impresa. The poll ends on March 13. The attack on Impresa resulted in disruption, MercadoLibre confirmed in an SEC filing that source code and 300,000 users' data were leaked.
Last month, Vodafone Portugal has accused of service problems on a 'malicious cyberattack,' however, it's not clear if the cases are linked. Lapsus$ group has also leaked source codes and other information from NVIDIA and Samsung.
NVIDIA confirmed that hackers stole employee credentials and signature certificates. Threat actors stole 190 GB of data from Samsung, confirmed the theft of source codes linked to Galaxy devices, however, it said that employee and customer data wasn't compromised.
The hackers are thinking of getting big ransom payments from affected companies for not publishing the leaked data. From NVIDIA, threat actors asked the company to open-source drivers and delete a feature that restricts Ethereum mining capabilities in a few of the graphics cards.
"The hackers gained access to the company’s Amazon Web Services account and sent emails and text messages to subscribers, the statement said. The hackers accessed some subscriber information, but Impresa said it had no evidence they got hold of subscribers’ passwords or credit card details," says Security Week.
Nissan's source code got compromised online after the company left an uncovered Git server secured with default access credentials. This leak was learned by a Swiss-based software engineer Tillie Kottmann who shared with ZDNet in an interview that she discovered the leak from an unknown source and analyzed the company’s data.