Hackers Access Meta GitHub Repositories, Exposing Code and Personal Data of 1,500
Summary
Attackers used a stolen employee credential to access Meta GitHub repositories, taking mostly business code and a small amount of personal data. Meta says its internal systems were not breached and has rotated repository secrets and added safeguards.
Key points
- An outside group accessed some Meta GitHub repositories using an employee’s stolen credentials; Meta detected the intrusion a few weeks later.
- About 1,500 people, mostly US employees, are being notified that their personal information was affected.
- Meta says 99% of the data taken was business data, including software code; the remaining 1% was personal data mistakenly stored in the repositories.
- Meta said much of the apparent personal data was synthetic or anonymized test data and has not disclosed the types of genuine personal information involved.
- Meta shut down the attackers’ access, worked with GitHub and law enforcement, and says its internal systems were not breached.
- Meta rotated secrets found in the affected repositories, added controls to prevent user data from being stored on GitHub, and is introducing proactive scanning.
- Affected people are being offered credit and dark web monitoring services; Meta is also notifying regulators.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- Meta
- Incident Type
- Unauthorized access to Meta GitHub repositories using an employee’s stolen credentials, with business code and a small amount of personal data accessed.
- Data Types Exposed
- Software code related to some Meta products
- Personal information; specific types not disclosed
- Affected Records
- Roughly 1,500 people were notified that their personal information was impacted; the article does not specify the number of genuine records accessed.
- Affected Data Size
- 99% of the data taken was business data and 1% was personal data; a significant portion of apparent personal data was synthetic or anonymized test data.
- Operational Impact
- Meta shut down the attackers’ access, rotated secrets found in affected repositories, hardened product security, and added controls to prevent user data from being stored in GitHub and to scan for mistaken uploads. Meta said its internal systems were not breached.
- Ransom Or Extortion
- None reported.
- Claim Status
- confirmed