DreamHost Confirms Months-Long Hack Exposed Customer Emails and Credentials
Web host DreamHost says attackers stole customer emails and login credentials during a cyberattack that began in August.
Source: TechCrunch
DreamHost has confirmed that hackers obtained customer emails and credentials during a cyberattack on its systems that lasted several months. The company disclosed the breach last Thursday, after the incident triggered an outage lasting several days, during which DreamHost reset some customer passwords.
In a data breach notice filed with California's attorney general, DreamHost said the intrusion started in August and let attackers collect session tokens, the data that keeps users logged in after they enter their passwords. With a stolen token, an attacker could access an account as if they were the user. According to the company, the hackers took advantage of an unspecified vulnerability in DreamHost's file manager, the tool customers use to store their files.
A spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company would not say why the attack went unnoticed until last week, citing an ongoing investigation. The spokesperson also declined to describe the vulnerability and said it was unrelated to recently discovered flaws in PHP web software.
DreamHost says the share of affected customers is "well under 10%," but it has not released a more precise number. The company advertises about 400,000 paying customers across its network.
