back to article Feds probe '100 site' data breach

FBI agents looking into the theft of customer data belonging to McDonald's are investigating similar breaches that may have hit more than 100 other companies that used email marketing services from Atlanta-based Silverpop Systems . “The breach is with Silverpop, an email service provider that has over 105 customers,” Stephen …

COMMENTS

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  1. mafoo

    Good Will

    So what price will these companies put on their loss of goodwill as a result of this...

  2. Lance 3

    Customers?

    Are they talking about the average consumer? Who would want emails from a fast-food chain?

    1. Elmer Phud

      Average

      The average customer is easy prey for 'register here for free stuff and games'. Offer them some free burgers and shakes and they will give you thier life details.

  3. Neal 5

    The difference between

    legal spam and illegal spam. MARKETING, well that makes it ok then.

    Yep sympathy for the recipients/yet to be recipients, even a smidgin of sympathy for DeviantART and it's ilk, non for the spammers. Obviously applied government guidelines for data security rigorously, what more does anyone expect.

  4. skeptical i
    Thumb Down

    A marketing firm doesn't have a PR department?

    It's all bullshit, just slightly different flavors. How competent are they if they can not cobble together a canned "apologize for inconvenience, valued customers, thorough investigation" spiel to lob at the press and other inquiries? There's hardly a dearth of such copy/ paste-able twaddle provided by politicians, Wall Street, et cetera. Yeesh.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Their mistake was skimping and using Silverpop

    if they'd used GOLDpop or Platinumpop this wouldn't have happened...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Editorial Point?

    I'm trying to understand the editorial point. Putting eggs in one basket is bad? Should we just put our details into as many disparate company systems as possible, because that's more... secure? less secure?

    Or is it that we should just not trust our trading partners? Do these include Worldpay, Paypal, etc?

    I admit, I'm lost.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Who cares who lost the data?

    The company who originally handed it over to a 3rd party should get smacked should be reamed just as hard as those who lost it.

    1. Swarthy

      all the way?

      So, if the company that gave the information to the e-mail service is equally responsible for the data breach, what about the individual that gave the data to the company?

      Or in Walgreen's case: the individual who gave the data to the company that gave the data to the marketing firm that gave the data to the email service <inhale /> in the house that John built.

  8. raivn

    srsly

    guys, stop worrying! It's ok because they changed their passwords now.

  9. madasalorry
    WTF?

    Step back from the burgers...

    they don't want the fastfood chain, the grocer or the candlestick-maker...

    ...the fastfood chain is probably just the single biggest list the email service provider handles.

    A McFlunky used the cloud-based ESP platform to spam the fresh-meat lists the ESP holds from behind the ESP's white-listed IP. ++deliverability

    Other ESP's have also been hit by this (US & UK as far as I know - darkreading has something on it) - and it is looking like it could be a quite an issue.

    If i had pwnd an ESP wouldn't be sending unexpected burger email or comedy 419s. you'd spear the ESP clients and customers who might give-up acess to their networks or their users credentials, postal address, bank accounts, usual profit motives etc etc.

    It's funny, but not so funny everyone decided not to talk about it... anywhere - in reality it is potentially one of the most troubling breaches in ages - it trickles down through layers (I found out today about 3 ESPs hit by attacks with 1/3 success).

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