Data breach leaks a whopping 2.7 billion records including smartphone and Wi-Fi info
A huge data breach has resulted in the leak of 2.7 billion records belonging to China's Mars Hydro. The company is involved in indoor growing and hydroponics which is the process of growing plants without soil. The company offers LED grow lights, grow tents, and other products. Because many of the products it offers are controlled by smartphones, information about the different types of handsets and Wi-Fi networks used by its customers was included in the data breach. The operating system used by these phones (iOS or Android) was also leaked.
The data was not protected by a password and the information leaked also included Wi-Fi SSID network names, passwords, IP addresses, device ID numbers, and email addresses. According to one report, the potential threats from this data breach include unauthorized access to networks and devices, phishing attacks, interception of data, and man-in-the-middle attacks.
Mars Hydro's iOS app listed in the App Store. | Image credit-PhoneArena
Man-in-the-middle attacks are serious because they involve an attacker who secretly gets in the middle of two parties having an unencrypted online conversation. The attacker can change the conversation sent from one party to the other without either participant in the conversation being aware that this was taking place. As a result, this data breach could lead to impersonations and eavesdropping attacks.
It is not yet clear whether the database involved in the breach was managed and owned directly by Mars Hydro and LG-LED SOLUTIONS or run by a third-party contracted to manage the data. It should be noted that Mars Hydro designs and manufactures its products in Shenzhen, China while owning warehouses in the U.K. and the U.S.
As we pointed out, smartphones are used to control some of the products available from Mars Hydro which is why the latter has an app available from both the App Store and the Google Play Store. The apps are available in Chinese, English, French, and German. Privacy notices for the app in both the iOS and Android storefronts say that these apps do not collect any user data. However, it is possible that the leaked records contained credentials and connectivity details that were obtained from the IoT devices offered by Mars Hydro once they were connected to the user's victim's local network.
So far, there has been no evidence that the leaked data was obtained by an attacker ready to use it for evil purposes. There is always the possibility that a foreign government will obtain the database and use it to gather information or for surveillance purposes.
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