More than 1.4 Million Legacy Members of the American Bar Association Have Credentials Stolen

  • By Steven
  • Published: Apr 25, 2023
  • Last Updated: Apr 25, 2023

American Bar Association Data Breach

The American Bar Association is the largest global organization of legal professionals in the world and has more than 166,000 members currently. The organization maintains data for a huge number of lawyers and other legal professionals, and this large-scale organization suffered from a recent data breach. The breach released information for over 1.4 million past members of the organization, putting countless users at risk in the process. 

How Did the Attack Occur?

Attackers broke into the American Bar Association legacy file database and gained access to a huge database of user credentials. The credentials were usernames and passwords for more than 1,466,000 members. The attack was first discovered on March 17, 2023, and notices were quickly sent out after. The initial attack is suspected of having occurred on March 6, 2023, and the attackers had more than one week to dig through the data and to take as much as they could from the legacy database. 

What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?

After gaining access to the legacy system of the Bar Association, the hackers were able to gain access to passwords and usernames for as many as 1,466,000 members. The stolen information doesn't include personal or private information, but the credentials may be useful for future attacks. 

The only positive about this cyber attack is that the stolen usernames and passwords were hashed and salted before being stored. This means that extra characters were added in, and the information was encrypted to make it more difficult to access. 

The attackers have this modified data and will have to work to decrypt the information and remove the extra characters before getting access to the data. This data could be used to gain future access to accounts and perhaps to take additional data about each of the legal professionals within or to use the accounts for harmful purposes. 

How Did ABA Admit to the Breach?

On Thursday, March 17, 2023, the American Bar Association began sending out emails to current and past members that data had been compromised. The emails explained that legacy Bar Association data was stolen in the data breach and that a huge number of old login credentials were taken. It's unclear how much additional data could be stolen from each of the legacy accounts if the attackers are able to take the login information and get into those accounts. This is a concern that users should be considering. 

What Will Become of the Stolen Information?

While it isn't possible to recover the stolen data from the attackers, it will take time for the passwords and usernames to be cracked, and by then, the information could be changed to something else. 

What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?

The real concern is over how much data was leaked and how much work would be required to change all the usernames and passwords for the many accounts exposed. It's unclear whether the stolen accounts are still active or not, but if they are, users should log in and make password changes as soon as possible for protection.

About the Author
IDStrong Logo

Related Articles

Instagram Vulnerability Allowed Hackers Access to Control Your Phone

Security experts Check Point Research discovered a critical vulnerability while examining Instagra ... Read More

Alien Malware Infects More than 226 Mobile Apps and Steals Bank Data

As reported on September 24, 2020, by ZDNet and ThreatPost, a new strain of malware named “A ... Read More

Universal Health Systems Hit by Ransomware Attack

Universal Health Systems (UHS), a Fortune 500 company owning more than 400 hospitals across the co ... Read More

Exchange Server Bug Exposes a Big Risk to Hackers

Months after Microsoft released a patch to fix a serious flaw in MS Exchange Server, more than 61% ... Read More

Clients’ Bank Data Exposed in Blackbaud Ransomware Attack

Blackbaud software was victim to a ransomware attack last May, and new information suggests that c ... Read More

Latest Articles

What You Need to Know about the Data Breach MC2 Data

What You Need to Know about the Data Breach MC2 Data

Founded in 2018, MC2 Data is based in Florida and specializes in background check services. MC2 aggregates data from several records to provide background check services to landlords, employers, and other organizations.

What You Need to Know about the Delta Dental Data Breach

What You Need to Know about the Delta Dental Data Breach

Delta Dental is a dental insurance provider serving over 90 million Americans. It offers coverage in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. The company was established in 1966 in California as part of the Delta Dental Plans Association.

What You Need to Know about the Hot Topic Data Breach

What You Need to Know about the Hot Topic Data Breach

Hot Topic plays in the fashion, apparel, and shoe industry as a retailer of music-influenced apparel and accessories, such as jeans, tops, belts, dresses, pajamas, sunglasses, jewelry, and tees.

Featured Articles

How to Buy a House with Bad Credit

How to Buy a House with Bad Credit

Buying your own home is the American Dream, but it might seem out of reach to those with bad credit. However, the good news is, if your credit is less than perfect, you do still have options and in most cases, can still buy a home.

How Secure Is Your Password? Tips to Improve Your Password Security

How Secure Is Your Password? Tips to Improve Your Password Security

Any good IT article on computers and network security will address the importance of strong, secure passwords. However, the challenge of good passwords is that most people have a hard time remembering them, so they use simple or obvious ones that pose a security risk.

Top 10 Senior Scams and How to Prevent Them

Top 10 Senior Scams and How to Prevent Them

Senior scams are becoming a major epidemic for two reasons. First, seniors often have a lot of money in the bank from a life of working hard and saving.

Notice

By proceeding with this scan, you agree to let IDStrong run a Free Scan of supplied parameters of your personal information and provide free preliminary findings in compliance with our Terms of Use and Privacy Notice. You consent to us using your provided information to complete the Free Scan and compare it against our records and breach databases or sources to provide your Free preliminary findings report.

Rest assured: IDStrong will not share your information with third parties or store your information beyond what is required to perform your scan and share your results.

Free Identity Threat Scan
Instantly Check if Your Personal Information is Exposed
All fields below are required
Please enter first name
Please enter last name
Please enter a city
Please select a state
Please enter an age
Please enter an email address
Close