Cognizant: Corporate credit card information falls prey to cyber attack

Cyber attack on Cognizant

Monday, 22nd June 2020

Maze ransomware cyber attack on Cognizant Technology Solutions, as informed by the company to its employees as well as its California authorities, was primarily related to the company credit cards that the company had issued to the employees.

Becky Schmitt; the chief people officer at Cognizant said in a letter to the company employees and to the regulators: "We regret that this incident occurred and take the security of your personal information seriously,”. She further said that the company has already notified all the company associates who owned a corporate credit card (active) of the company.

All company associates owning active corporate credit cards are likely to be offered complimentary identity theft and credit monitoring support from the experts of the privacy technology company ID. This support is to be offered for 12 months at a stretch. Along with this support, solutions for restoration of managed identity and theft insurance cover are to be offered. Cognizant has entrusted FBI with the responsibility of investigating and tracing the details of the attacker.

Cognizant thinks that the impact of the ransomware attack in the current quarter will amount to nearly $50-$70 millions. The company informed that it came to know about this attack on the 20th of April and also discovered that a small portion of the data has been exfiltrated from the company’s systems by the attackers. Investigations carried out in this direction unearthed the fact that this unscrupulous activity has taken place between April 9 and April 11.

 Schmitt further said: “We notified the issuer of the cards of impacted accounts. They continue to monitor the account for any fraudulent activity and we have been informed that they have not seen an increase in fraud for our accounts,”

Cognizant informed that all precautionary measures are being undertaken to check personal information misuse.

Source: Times of India