We have seen that there are leaks and then there are some leaks which make you wonder about the sheer size of the data that has been leaked. One such database has been leaked right now and this report is from Thailand. It is known that a popular cellular company in Thailand named AIS was compromised recently. And now a new report has emerged that the hack was not as small as we initially thought. It is known that AIS was maintaining a database of user records which would tell you what anyone is doing at a certain time on the network.
There is nothing wrong with maintaining such a record and we are not talking about AIS doing so. But the worst part was that AIS’ database was having DNS queries and Netflow data, on the internet without a password. This part is where things went wrong because having a database without a password is like a free buffet for hackers who can do anything they want with the available data.
A security researcher thankfully found this database meaning that it is unlikely to have been misused. This researcher named Justin Paine said that he found the database and from that, anyone can “quickly paint a picture” meaning that they can know what the user is doing on the network like browsing the internet or making calls or doing something else.
AIS has since stated that “We can confirm that a small amount of non-personal, non-critical information was exposed for a limited period in May during a scheduled test,”. However, AIS needs to be blamed here as well because Paine reveals the company did not get back to him even after a week of him telling them about the issue. Later, Paine revealed this to ThaiCERT who then told AIS to remove the database.
