Singapore-based firm fined S$74K for data breach due to weak password affecting over 500K users - Singapore News

Source: The Independent
Published on: 2024-05-25 05:55

SINGAPORE: The Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) has fined PPLingo S$74,000 for a data breach caused by a weak password that affected over half a million users. The Straits Times reported that the breach in April 2022 exposed sensitive personal information, including cellphone numbers, bank account numbers, signatures, and identity card numbers of Chinese nationals. This breach impacted 557,144 users, including more than 300,000 minors using the company's online language lessons. PPLingo, under the website LingoAce, offers Chinese and English language classes for children aged four to 15 worldwide. The data breach was facilitated by a weak administrator password, "lingoace123," which had not been changed for over two years. Based on the company's website name, this password was compromised through brute force attacks, a method where hackers use trial and error to crack passw...

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