Fortinet VPN users have recently been compromised as a hacker gang leaked around half a million passwords on a dark web forum. A hacker gang has allegedly been able to collect and dump a massive trove of 500,000 login credentials that belong to those users of the popular VPN product coming from a certain cybersecurity firm known as Fortinet.
Hacker Known as 'Orange'
The threat actor, who reportedly goes by the moniker of "Orange," has been able to apparently leak the trove of usernames and passwords on a certain dark web forum, according to the report of Bleeping Computer. While cybercriminals will often do their best and try to sell massive data or use it for their very own nefarious purposes, Orange apparently posted a massive haul of information for free.
According to the story by Gizmodo, the accounts are now believed to have been compromised through a previously discovered vulnerability found in the product. In April, other federal agencies warned a number of security flaws in the Fortinet VPN could allow hackers to gain access.
Who is Orange?
The company has since then been issuing security patches for those particular flaws. Apparently, that still did not stop droves of users from having their very own account information compromised by a hacker gang. About three years ago, a 16-year old hacker was able to infiltrate Apple and stole 90GB of secured files.
The security firm Advanced Intel research showed that Orange is currently thought to be a member of the popular ransomware gang known as "Groove." They are also quite reputed to have also previously worked along with Babuk.
Fortinet VPN Hacked
Babuk is known to be a prominent ransomware gang that actually attempted to try and extort the Washington D.C. Metropolitan police department for massive millions of dollars just earlier this 2021. Groove has just recently launched a particular cybercriminal forum known as RAMP and researchers have reportedly theorized that the gang could have leaked the VPN accounts in order to draw attention to their own new business venture.
VPNs, or virtual private networks, are meant to protect users' confidential data as well as web activity. It can reportedly become a nightmare if hackers are able to gain access to them. One of the largest hacks that happened as of 2021 was the SolarWinds hack that reportedly started out with malware.
Almost 500,000 Users Compromised
In this particular case, access to the Fortnite VPN accounts would most likely allow cybercriminals to be able to infiltrate networks, steal data, or do something even worse. Unfortunately, the threat actor that is responsible for the leak has already claimed that a number of the credentials are still valid.
The credentials are reportedly tied to a massive 498,908 users as well as 12,856 devices. This amount of credentials is reportedly sourced from as many as 74 different countries. The largest share of these particular credentials reportedly comes from India. Italy, France, and Israel also have their own sizable shares.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
