Re: Chegg Data Breach notification (Thanks to HIBP)

[Frank Barton <bartonf () HUSSON EDU>]

Just to 'close the loop' on this, we're seeing so many attacks based on the
chegg list right now that it isn't even funny. luckily many of them are
failing, but we're seeing a good number of successful 'password reuse'
attacks that we can confirm are linked directly to the chegg list.

Frank

On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 7:17 PM Joseph Tam <tam () math ubc ca> wrote:

> (Speaking as someone who deals with a few hundred, not a few thousand
> accounts.)
>
> Frank Barton <bartonf () HUSSON EDU> writes:
>
> > Are you notifying impacted users?
>
> Yes.  I make reference to the most comprehensive sites I can find that
> explain the data breach -- disturbingly, some vendors not very forthcoming
> about it--  as well as general security advice on password diversifiction,
> identity fraud, etc.
>
> > Are you requiring a password reset for campus systems?
>
> No.  Unless you have evidence that the same password is being used, I rely
> on the recipient to judge for themselves what are appropriate actions.
> Forcing people to change their password based on paranoia, like frequent
> password rotation, is counterproductive.
>
> Ken Connelly <ken.connelly () UNI EDU> writes:
>
> > For all similar reports that include a password in the
> > stolen data, we send this message to the affected accounts.
>
> These breaches leak all sorts of data, and hashed passwords may not be
> as damaging as attempts at identity fraud, so I notify users about that
> as well.
>
> (In sig)
> > Any request to divulge your UNI password via e-mail is fraudulent!
>
> Most phish will try and instruct you to enter it into a web form,
> but making this distinction in a short sig is doomed to failure.
> Reducing security to a slogan is the opposite of what you want.
>
> "Jim A. Bole" <jbole () STEVENSON EDU> writes:
>
> > We subscribe to haveibeenpwned.com's domain search notification
> service. We=
> > 've seen a steady increase in notifications around these types of
> services:
> > -          Chegg
> > -          Canva
> > -          Adobe
>
> I'm also subscribed there, and the recent spike in reported accounts
> seems to be sourced from the same individual.  Apparently, this person
> found a way to get a hold of a lot breached data.  (Maybe working
> undercover?)
>
> From:    Blake M Bourgeois <bbour53 () LSU EDU>
>
> > For what it is worth, we saw the data in the breach being leveraged as
> > early as May 2018 and were able to finally confirm that the large
> > number of account compromises then were a result of this breach.
>
> I've observed that these data leak notifications get less useful over
> time.  Not only do many accounts go extinct (most of the accounts I
> get notified about don't exist anymore), but action on earlier breach
> notices also protect from some later breaches.  I see a lot of overlap
> on accounts where the same user account shows up again and again.
>
> These leaked credentials are exploited though: some of the frequently
> reported leaked credentials also show up frequently in my auth failure
> logs.
>
> Joseph Tam <tam () math ubc ca>
>
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-- 
Frank Barton, MBA
Security+, ACMT, MCP
IT Systems Administrator
Husson University

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