WWE News: WWE issues a statement on its Cybersecurity in the wake of fans' private information being leaked
What’s the story?
File this news story under “Well, that could have been worse”. According to Forbes, an unsecured database containing the addresses and other personal information of over 3 million WWE.com and WWE Network users was discovered. In the wake of this news, WWE has released an official statement. But, first...
In case you didn’t know...
Earlier this week, security firm Kromtech Bob Dyachenko (which also sounds like a cook wrestling name) informed Forbes that a database containing the addresses, ethnic backgrounds, education levels, and more of nearly 3 million WWE fans were just sitting around online for anyone to see.
Apparently, this information was placed an Amazon Web Services S3 server – and nobody bothered to attach a username or password to it, Since then, WWE has informed everybody to not worry, they’ve totally got this, you guys....
The heart of the matter
In the wake of the incident, WWE posted this statement on their web page:
“Although no credit card or password information was included*, and therefore not at risk, WWE is investigating a vulnerability of a database housed on Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has now been secured. WWE utilizes leading cybersecurity firms Smartronix and Praetorian to manage data infrastructure and cybersecurity and to conduct regular security audits on AWS. We are currently working with Amazon Web Services, Smartronix and Praetorian to ensure the ongoing security of our customer information.”
*emphasis ours
What’s next?
Fortunately, the entire snafu was caught and dealt with before it became an even bigger problem. While it may be a little disconcerting that WWE is collecting this type of data in the first place, it’s important to not that this information was given by users on a voluntary basis.
Hopefully, WWE and their online partners will be more proactive when it comes to security.
Author’s take
Just to be on the safe side, we reached out to Solomon Crowe for a comment, but can’t seem to find him anywhere.