Honeywell hack exposed nearly 120K people


Honeywell International, the US-based multi-billion dollar advanced technology conglomerate, revealed the MOVEit hack exposed Social Security numbers (SSNs) of over 100,000 people.

Honeywell started contacting individuals affected in June’s breach when it fell victim to the Cl0p ransomware gang amidst a wave of MOVEit Transfer-related hacks.

According to a letter Honeywell submitted to the Maine Attorney General’s office, the company learned about the breach on June 3rd. The company’s data was exposed when hackers exploited a bug in the MOVEit Transfer tool Honeywell used for “certain business operations.”

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Information the Fortune 100 company submitted to Maine’s authorities indicates that exposed information includes individuals’ names and SSNs. In total, 118,379 individuals were impacted by the attack.

Losing SSNs poses significant risks, as impersonators can use stolen data in tandem with names and driver’s license numbers for identity theft.

Honeywell spans numerous industrial sectors, providing products and services, including manufacturing aerospace and automotive products, industrial control systems, and other high-tech gear. The company employs over 100,000 staff and reported revenue exceeding $35 billion in 2022.

Who‘s behind the attack?

So far, nearly 1,200 organizations and over 55 million people are confirmed to have been impacted by the MOVEit Transfer attacks, claimed by the ransomware gang Cl0p.

The Russia-linked gang goes by a few different names. People in the cyber industry know the syndicate as TA505, Lace Tempest, Dungeon Spider, and FIN11. The gang is quite old. It was first observed in 2019.

Numerous well-known organizations have had their clients exposed in the MOVEit attacks. Recently, TD Ameritrade, a US stockbroker, reported that over 60,000 of its clients were exposed, with Cl0p taking the financial account data of some.

Other named victims include American Airlines, TJX off-price department stores, TomTom, Pioneer Electronics, Autozone, and Johns Hopkins University and Health System, Warner Bros Discovery, AMC Theatres, Choice Hotels’ Radisson Americas chain, and Crowe accounting advisory firm.

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