Major security breach hits Acer affecting millions of Indian users, hacking group claims responsibility

Acer's servers have suffered a major breach leading to loss of important internal business information pertaining to several million customers. The breach seems to have specifically affected Acer India's after-sales service systems. This is the second major cyberattack this year against the Taiwanese multinational.

Hacker group Desorden have claimed responsibility for the present attacks on Acer India's servers. The group claims to have stolen 60 GB of data that includes customer information, corporate data, sensitive accounts, financial data, and audit data. This also includes login details of Acer retailers and distributors in India. They've even said that Acer will be given the rights to verify the authenticity of the breach and the data contained.

Privacy Affairs, which first broke the story, had a look at the publicly available data of 10,000 individuals and could contact affected persons to establish identity. The breach apparently first took place on October 5. The hackers also claimed that sensitive data of millions of Acer customers will be released for a fee.

An Acer spokesperson speaking to Privacy Affairs confirmed,

We have recently detected an isolated attack on our local after-sales service system in India. Upon detection, we immediately initiated our security protocols and conducted a full scan of our systems. We are notifying all potentially affected customers in India. The incident has been reported to local law enforcement and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, and has no material impact to our operations and business continuity.”

Earlier this year, Acer suffered a major ransomware attack carried by REvil, who demanded US$50 million in ransom. Prior to this, in September, Desorden attacked the Malaysian division of ABX Express Enterprise and stole more than 200 GB of data.

This is the third major attack by the group this month alone, which also includes Malaysian Logistics SkyNet.com.my and the recruitment and HR firm ProTempts Singapore.

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