The cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks has admitted that it suffered a data breach which resulted in the personal data of both past and current employees being leaked online.
Business Insider, who broke the story, was first made aware of the breach by a former employee of the company that wished to remain anonymous.
After the news outlet spoke with Palo Alto Networks, the company confirmed that the personal information of around seven current and former employees was “inadvertently” posted online by an external contractor back in February.
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Third-party vendor
According to Business Insider, the names, dates of birth and social security numbers of the employees were shared online by a third-party vendor. However, Palo Alto Networks did not reveal the name of the external company or say where the details had been leaked.
A spokesperson for the cybersecurity firm provided more details on the incident to Business Insider, saying:
"We took immediate action to remove the data from public access and terminate the vendor relationship. We also promptly reported the incident to the appropriate authorities and to the impacted individuals. We take the protection of our employees' information very seriously and have taken steps to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future."
At this time, it is still unclear as to whether the personal data of Palo Alto Networks' employees was leaked accidentally or if the party responsible for leaking the data did so maliciously.
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Via Business Insider
