MercadoLibre has started notifying users affected by the March hack: what the message says

Mercado Libre began to notice in bulk this Friday to users whose data was compromised after a hack that occurred in early March. They make sure of that “Some personal data has been exposed, such as your email”but they say “there is no access to credit cards, passwords, money balances or investments.”

On March 7, a group of cybercriminals “accessed approximate data 300 thousand users“, Of the total 140 million they have between both platforms, which the company itself recognizes. It is the group of cybercriminals” Lapsus “, which also leaked information of 24 thousand source code repositories .

From here, the company ensured that it would strengthen security measures on the affected users. this friday cThe mails began to arrive.

In the released information, the company recalled a series of security measures, performed below:

• If they contact you on behalf of MercadoLibre, never give them your password or your access codes. The security code is only generated if you request it via the app or on the web. For this reason, no legitimate Mercado Libre employee can generate it for you, nor will they ask you to manage a query.

• Strengthen your account security with second factor verification.

• Change your password often.

They also offer support for those who suspect they have compromised accounts, here.

The mail, however, did not exactly specify what information the cybercriminals obtained: Instead, they deny that there is sensitive data such as credit card data, but they hardly say that the data was compromised “such as email.”

Clarion The company was contacted for more details, but they did not specify what personal data was leaked. Mercado Libre has limited itself to reporting that “no passwords, account or investment balances, or card information have been compromised.”

Mercado Libre’s statement to the press

In response to questions from ClarionMercado Libre shared a statement about sending emails to affected users:

Based on strict security protocols and the complete review process we have actively maintained since last March, due to unauthorized access to Mercado Libre, Inc. source code, more data this source has obtained determined. same incident.

Always maintaining transparent and timely communication with our users, we now actively communicate with all owners of such data to inform them about it. In any case there has been a compromise of passwords, account or investment balances, or card information; or we have found no evidence of access to our users ’accounts, or any other type of compromise. Also, we inform you that none of the data reached by the incident has been made public to date.

The security of our users and the platform is our priority, so we continue to take strict measures to guarantee this.

The Lapsus $ hack in Mercado Libre

On Monday, March 7, the company acknowledged unauthorized access to its source code repositories, along with the compromise of 300,000 user accounts.

“We recently determined that part of the source code of Mercado Libre, Inc. is subject to unauthorized access. We have activated our security protocols and we are conducting a thorough review,” they explain.

The information is known in computer security circles, because Lapsus $, the cybercriminal group that runs the ransomware, published a survey on its Telegram channel to ask who their followers want them to hack. Mercado Libre is on the list.

The way these cybercriminal groups operate is with ransomware extortion: a type of virus that intercepts user information and asks for ransom in return, as happened with Migration in 2020 and Renaper’s unauthorized access in 2021 .

Lapsus $ was in the news recently for Samsung’s data leak. Last Friday they uploaded a file divided into three parts with data from the South Korean company, which can be downloaded via a torrent.

Some experts say Lapsus $ is a Latin American group of cybercriminals, because of the information they post and clues their members leave.

Lapsus $ later leaked Globant’s private data.

Data breaches often affect the reputation of companies. However, it should be noted that from Yahoo to Microsoft to Facebook, almost no one is exempt from cybercrime by cybercriminals.