Posted on by achalhoub1

Data Breach

Model 2There could be a weak link anywhere your personal information resides: at doctor’s office, employer, bank, favorite restaurant or even the person who cut your hair last week. You may be doing a whole lot right, what about everyone else?

In this Blog will talk more about an education platform data breach incident.

What Happened?

The platform is used by more than 78 million teachers, students and parents to compose lesson plans, make homework assignments and other tasks.

Breach notification website LeakBase provided Motherboard with a sample of more than two million records, which included usernames, email addresses and hashed passwords.

“Edmodo has learned about a potential security incident,” a company spokesperson told Motherboard in an email. “Protecting the privacy of our users is of the utmost importance to Edmodo. We take this report very seriously and we are investigating.”

First Step?

Mollie Carter, Edmodo’s VP of marketing and communications, responded shortly after the news of a dark web data breach was publicized, emphasizing the company’s dedication to protecting the privacy of its users.

Carter said that the company had reported the breach to the relevant authorities and hired security experts to look into it as well.

Despite the availability of the data cache on the dark web, the company is still not aware of any compromised user accounts on their site.

The deployment of additional security measures to avoid similar scenarios in the future is underway.

The email ended with an assurance that more information concerning the dark web hack will be availed as it surfaces.

Lesson to Learn

While companies try to keep up by continuously boosting security, here are a couple of ways you can strengthen your defense against data breaches.

    1. Do not provide your Social Security number unless it is absolutely necessary. Ask.
    2. Never use your name, or a child or pet’s name in your passwords.
    3. Create passwords with upper and lower case letters, non-sequential numbers and symbols.
      Change them at least quarterly.
    4. Do not use the same password for multiple accounts; this will minimize the damage in case your information is compromised.
    5. While our digital age has brought us a world of connectivity and convenience, it has also cultivated an entirely new breed of criminal. And although today’s tactics may be different, the goal remains the same—take what’s yours and make it theirs.

References

Admin. (2013, October 31). What is a Breach? Retrieved from Life Lock: https://www.lifelock.com/education/breach/

Masters, G. (2017, May 12). Millions of identities stolen from education platform Edmodo. Retrieved from SC Media: https://www.scmagazine.com/millions-of-identities-stolen-from-education-platform-edmodo/article/661351/