14,000 Mediacorp meconnect accounts compromised in data breach

Around 14,000 of Mediacorp's meconnect accounts have been compromised after a 22-year-old man allegedly obtained unauthorised access, according to the Singapore Police Force in a statement.  The arrest was made after the police received a report that the accounts were compromised, and after through follow-up investigations, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department established the identity of the man and arrested him on 9 March, said the police, as reported on Mediacorp owned publication Today.

Don't miss: Mediacorp embraces NFT solution for advertisers

Currently, the man is assisting with investigations into an offence of unauthorised access to computer materials under Section 3(1) of the Computer Misuse Act 1993. The offence carries a fine not exceeding SG$5,000, an imprisonment of up to two years, or both, according to the police. 

The arrest comes just weeks after Mediacorp advised 14,000 meconnect users to change their passwords after their accounts were accessed. At that time, Mediacorp said that login credentials were not leaked and that there was no evidence that the personal data of users were misused or disclosed publicly, according to CNA. It also reassured users that none of their payment information was compromised. 

The issue was first detected at the end of January this year by monitoring that was carried out by an unidentified external party, according to media reports. It was understood that this was a credential stuffing incident. Credential stuffing is a cyber-attack where criminals breach the data of one service and use the information gained to attempt to log into another service, according to CNA.

Mediacorp reportedly notified all affected account users and encouraged them to change their passwords as well as to check on any other accounts which might use the same or similar login credentials. Microsoft has also reportedly filed police report and notified regulators such as the Singapore Personal Data Protection Commission, said CNA.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Mediacorp for more information.

The news comes days after Mediacorp announced that it had teamed up with non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Mintable to offer NFTs for the first time to advertisers as part of clients' marketing campaigns in the Singapore market. Bringing together Mediacorp’s omnichannel reach and Mintable’s expertise in NFTs, which has users from over 200 countries globally, the tie-up paves the way for advertisers to build stronger engagement and brand loyalty amongst today’s digital-first audiences in an increasingly congested online space.

With this partnership, Mediacorp will drive the development and publicity of clients’ NFT campaigns, backed by Mintable’s blockchain-run solutions.

Content 360 is back on 10-11 May 2023 in Singapore. A hugely popular event over the years, Content 360 brings the most influential content creators to inspire you. Across two days, you can connect with 300+ brightest minds in the industry and learn how to overcome challenges to make your content stand out among the crowd. Tickets are on sale now, register today: https://conferences.marketing-interactive.com/content360-sg/

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