Huntress Finds Plaintext Password Files on 1.6% of Assessed Endpoints

Summary

Huntress says its assessment found files believed to contain plaintext passwords on about 1.6% of more than 2 million managed endpoints. It recommends password managers, MFA, security training and account monitoring, and added Credential Reports to its EDR offering.

Key points

Huntress assessed more than 2 million endpoints across over 4,000 partner accounts; it says it did not download or scan file contents.
The company estimated that about 1.6% of endpoints had files believed to contain exposed plaintext passwords—more than 32,000 endpoints.
More than 200 partners had exposed password files on at least 5% of their endpoints, and over 100 had more than 50 affected endpoints.
Huntress recommends encrypted password managers, MFA, security awareness training and monitoring for account takeover.
Huntress added Credential Reports to its Managed EDR offering, with alerts when its platform detects a file that may contain exposed passwords.

Article Details

Event Type: Huntress reported finding potentially exposed plaintext-password files on managed endpoints and added Credential Reports to Huntress Managed EDR.
Impact: Huntress's assessment across more than 2 million endpoints found that approximately 1.6%—over 32,000 endpoints—contained a file believed to hold exposed plaintext passwords. The files could expose credentials for business email, banking, sensitive user data, and business-critical software. Huntress said it did not download or scan file contents; the assessment identified files that may contain passwords, and the source does not confirm that the credentials were accessed or stolen.