Materials Manufacturing Company Teijin Automotive Technologies Suffers a Serious
Table of Contents
- By Steven
- Published: Feb 24, 2023
- Last Updated: Feb 27, 2023
Teijin Automotive Technologies is an advanced company that specializes in manufacturing lightweight composite materials used on vehicles, boats, trucks, and more. The company is a small branch off a large Japanese manufacturing organization, and it has an annual revenue of about $7 billion. The company employs a large number of Americans, and it suffered a recent data breach that may have exposed thousands of those employees in a major way.
How Did the Attack Occur?
Teijin Automotive Technologies suffered from a recent ransomware attack that started with a phishing email sent to one of its employees. The employee clicked a malicious link contained in the email, giving the attackers access to the Teijin file servers. Once they were in, the attackers began encrypting key files in preparation for a ransomware attack. Once the network was rendered useless, the hackers issued a ransomware message to the company, informing them that their systems had been compromised and demanding payment to restore the file servers. This attack exposed thousands of employees to the hacker group.
What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?
According to the forensic analysis of the attacks, the company employees involved had much of their private information exposed, including their Social Security numbers as well as bank account information. Along with those two concerning bits of data, most employees also had their names, birth dates, addresses, and health insurance policy information exposed in the data breach. This information is more than enough for the attackers to apply for credit cards and loans and to create all sorts of mischief for each employee involved.
How Did Teijin Automotive Technologies Admit to the Breach?
After Teijin Automotive Technologies conducted a breach investigation, the company notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights about the attack. The notice explained that nearly 25,000 company employees were exposed by this ransomware attack, and it summarized what information from these users was made available. The company began sending out letters to every employee that's suspected of having been exposed by the attack. If you receive a letter you know your information was available to the attackers.
What Will Become of the Stolen Information?
While it's assumed the information was only taken to help the ransomware attack succeed, the hackers could have made copies of employee information and traded it online, leveraged it for their own profit, or given it away freely online. If you receive a message from the company stating your information was involved in this attack, it's important for you to take immediate action to protect yourself.
What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?
As many as 25,000 Teijin employees were exposed by this data breach, and if you are a current, or were previously an employee of the company you may be one of those individuals. If you suspect your information was taken, you should take immediate steps to protect yourself. Consider an identity theft monitoring service or a credit monitoring service or placing a freeze on your credit to prevent it from being utilized by the hackers that have your information.
