Amazon hit by large data leak of email addresses and names

Amazon says it has to do with a large data breach. The names and e-mail addresses of customers have been leaked onto the Internet. Amazon has already approached the affected customers. How many people have been affected and from which regions is not known; the internet giant did not want to share that information.

That’s what The Guardian reports today based on reports from Amazon. The names and e-mail addresses of customers were unexpectedly placed on Amazon’s site. People affected by the leak have already been contacted by the site. There is no hacking of the site or any of Amazon’s systems. Instead, there was a technical problem, which led to the publication of the names and e-mail addresses.

Affected customers

In a short statement, Amazon states the following about the leak: We have solved the problem and approached customers who may have been affected by it. Customers who received the e-mail could read that their e-mail address, or name and e-mail address had been leaked. This is not the result of anything you have done and there is no need to change your password or take any other action.

Amazon also emphasized in the mail that it takes all security related matters very seriously. The security of your account is our top priority. We have policies and security measures in place to ensure that your personal information remains safe.

GDPR rules

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), companies are required to report a data breach. Amazon has indicated that it meets this requirement and that it has contacted the privacy watchdogs. In any case, the timing of the data breach is bad: Black Friday is about to start, a time when many customers will be surfing to Amazon’s site for offers.

The advice of experts to those affected is to ignore Amazon and change the password of the account. Cybercriminals can do a lot of damage with a large database of names and email addresses. Many people still use predictable passwords and thanks to large leaks, the passwords of many people are available on the dark web. For cybercriminals it is only a matter of matching the right information, according to Richard Walters – CTO of cybersecurity firm CensorNet versus The Guardian.