Data Breach Leads to Theft of E-mail ids: TripAdvisor

Subscribers of TripAdvisor, the website for travel review, are likely to receive slightly more spam during the forthcoming days. In a declaration, the company that Bellevue-situated Expedia owns stated that certain 3rd-party, without authorization, had seized the e-mail list containing the subscribers' ids. TechFlash published this on March 24, 2011.

Wrote Steve Kaufer co-founder and CEO of TripAdvisor within an e-mail notification to all subscribers, the company was taking the event seriously as well as actively coordinating with agencies of law enforcement to pursue the issue. Moreover, he wrote that the company was directly contacting the subscribers for informing them because it believed that was the appropriate action to take. NetworkWorld published this on March 24, 2011.

Kaufer confirmed that on March 19, 2011, TripAdvisor found that a 3rd-party had seized the e-mail list of TripAdvisor subscribers without authorization. Additionally, he wrote that the company had substantiated the security flaw's origin, which it deactivated. CNet News published this on March 24, 2011.

Meanwhile, aside the e-mail notification, a "frequently-answered-questions" page regarding the SNAFU security was as well added to TripAdvisor's website.

The company reportedly, declined giving more information regarding the total number of affected subscribers. Moreover, it said that TripAdvisor didn't seek financial or credit card details as well as didn't hire out or trade its subscribers' e-mail ids. However, in spite of the security hack, the passwords of its subscribers were still secure, the company stated.

Additionally, TripAdvisor assured it'd make its security system further strong following the hack that was being investigated. Meanwhile, an Internet site based in USA that caters to a global clientele too notified the police about the event.

Also, the security breach occurs only days after the bad guys compromised the Play.com electronic mail directory and then sent web-links supposedly taking onto an Adobe application update, which in reality delivered malware. Play.com said that Silverpop its partner company for e-mail marketing was to be condemned.

And though the TripAdvisor incident didn't trigger any malware, the Play.com hack indeed depicts the kind of mischief that can happen whilst e-mail addresses undergo exposure, security investigators elucidate.

Related article: Data Theft Incidents Influence Consumers Adversely

» SPAMfighter News - 04-04-2011

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