Acer Repair Documents, Images, and More Are Stolen in Cyber Attack

Acer is a well-known tech company that's based in Taiwan and with facilities and offices around the world. The company's main headquarters are in San Jose, California, in the United States. The company is known for engineering, technical manufacturing, and creating many products in the electronics industry today. The organization recently suffered a significant data attack that may have exposed company secrets, product keys, and many software images that could hurt the organization. This wasn't the first attack either; Acer suffered a major data leak back in October of 2022 as well. 

How Did the Attack Occur?

A source from Acer admitted that one of its document servers, meant for use by its repair technicians, suffered an attack from an outside hacker group. While Acer wasn't willing to go into details about how the attacker was able to gain access to the server, we suspect it was either through phishing or a security vulnerability. Either way, the hackers got away with a substantial amount of company data. The attacker likely only had access to the company server for a short time, but during that time, they were able to steal approximately 2,800 files, totaling more than 160 Gb in size all together.

What Information Was Viewed or Stolen?

The criminals claim to have taken product documentation information, slides, staff manuals, binary files, disk images, and replacement product keys, all meant for use by Acer technicians. Nearly 160 GB of company data was leaked, and that could cause significant damage to the tech giant over time. This secure information can be used by competitors to the company, but also by consumers looking to avoid paying for Acer services.

How Did Acer Admit to the Breach?

Acer sent a statement to SecurityWeek confirming that it was attacked. The confirmation was just after the suspected date of the attack in mid-February. There is still no official government report about the attack, but one likely isn't required by law since no private consumer data or employee information is suspected of having been leaked. 

What Will Become of the Stolen Information?

The hacker group is currently attempting to sell the information, and it's likely it will be used to generate the greatest profit possible. The proprietary information contained within the document package will be exploited by many different individuals and will likely cost Acer a great deal of money. 

What Should Affected Parties Do in the Aftermath of the Breach?

Acer is taking immediate action to protect itself and secure its servers against future cyber attacks. This is not the first time the company has been attacked, and it seems to be struggling to keep the hackers at bay. Since no consumer information is suspected of having been leaked, you don't have to worry about taking steps to protect yourself from this attack. It's a good idea to watch what information you entrust Acer in the future because the company seems to be a primary target for interested hackers looking to steal data.