Singtel compromised in third-party attack

Edward Kost
Edward Kost
February 11, 2021

The name Accellion has been frequently mentioned in data breach news - an ironic reputation for a company that develops secure file sharing solutions.

Singtel, Singapore's multinational telecommunications conglomerate, is another victim of the Accellion data breach that occurred on December 23.

Singtel announced its impact in a public statement.

“Singtel has been informed by a third-party vendor Accellion that its file-sharing system called FTA has been illegally attacked by unidentified hackers.” Singtel said in its statement.

This incident is part of a wider supply chain attack. Other potential victims include ASIC, Allens, and the New Zealand Central Bank.

Investigations are ongoing, but Singtel already suspects that sensitive customer information was compromised. 

“We are currently conducting an impact assessment with the utmost urgency to ascertain the nature and extent of data that has been potentially accessed. Customer information may have been compromised.”

Supply chain attacks are becoming popular because they make the life of a cyber attacker much easier. Third-party vendors need access to sensitive data in order to integrate with internal systems. Because each vendor stores sensitive data for all of its users, a hacker needs to only compromise a single vendor to impact multiple victims, rather than targeting each victim individually.

Accellion has said that they have now patched all vulnerabilities, but this is little consolidation to the many victims that need to recover from this breach. Had the data leaks exposing Accellion been identified earlier, this pernicious domino effect may have been avoided.

How secure is Accellion?

Accellion secure file sharing empowers employees to work with third parties across a variety of secure channels.
  • Check icon
    View our free preliminary report on Accellion’s security posture
  • Check icon
    13 risk factors, including email security, SSL, DNS health, open ports and common vulnerabilities
https://www.accellion.com/
Security ratings
Abstract shape
Deliver icon

Sign up for our newsletter

Stay up-to-date on everything UpGuard with our monthly newsletter, full of product updates, company highlights, free cybersecurity resources, and more.
UpGuard customer support teamUpGuard customer support teamUpGuard customer support team

Protect your organization

Get in touch or book a free demo.
Free instant security score

How secure is your organization?

Request a free cybersecurity report to discover key risks on your website, email, network, and brand.
  • Check icon
    Instant insights you can act on immediately
  • Check icon
    Hundreds of risk factors including email security, SSL, DNS health, open ports and common vulnerabilities
Website Security scan resultsWebsite Security scan rating