Stanley Steemer, a popular cleaning giant based in Ohio disclosed that a cyberattack in March impacted a staggering 68,000 individuals. The company detailed the breach in documents filed with regulators in Maine, revealing that hackers infiltrated its systems on Feb. 10, with the breach detected on March 6.
Stanley Steemer Data Breach
Confronting the breach head-on, Stanley Steemer conducted an extensive review of compromised files to gauge potential risks and assess sensitive information.
After an initial notice on Nov. 15, the company continued scrutinizing internal records, concluding the process on Nov. 20. The compromised data involves names and Social Security numbers.
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Cyberattack Hits Almost 68,000 Users
According to a report by The Record, a total of 67,921 individuals fell victim to the cyber incident. While the notice remains mum on whether it was a ransomware attack, the Play ransomware gang claimed responsibility on March 17. Their alleged loot includes accounting data, budgets, tax documents, passport photos, and more.
Stanley Steemer promptly reported the incident to federal law enforcement.
Stanley Steemer is Facing Legal Challenges
With $577 million in sales in 2021 and franchises across 49 states, Stanley Steemer faces a notable financial and reputational challenge. The company is now offering affected individuals two years of complimentary credit monitoring services as part of its remediation efforts.
Notorious Play Ransomware Gang
The Play ransomware gang continues to wreak havoc, earning notoriety since emerging in July 2022. Initially targeting government entities in Latin America, the group made headlines in 2023 with high-profile attacks on the city of Oakland, the city of Lowell, and Dallas County.
How Important is Cybersecurity For the Cleaning Industry?
With the majority of cyberattacks targeting several companies across multiple industries including electronics, agriculture, infrastructure, and healthcare, it's a rare sight to see hackers thriving in the cleaning businesses. However, this is something that should not be ignored.
According to ISSA, cybercriminals are out there hunting for money. They do not care how small or big the organizations or people they want to attack.. Their end goal is to infiltrate the security systems to steal financial information from the victims.
Nowadays, even the cleaning industry is not safe from the online crooks. There are small groups of cybercriminals who operate to attack small firms. Some of the known security risks in the sector include weak passwords, ransomware, poor visitor security, and social engineering tactics.
For cybersecurity expert Larry Dietz, proper audit should always be done to assess what type of security is needed to mitigate the risks. There should be a "systematic program" that will help the company see the vulnerabilities that might affect the infrastructure.
"Not necessarily. It could be the reason you would be attacked in the first place. In July of this year, a ransomware gang demanded £500,000 (about US$571 000) from two schools in England. The crooks targeted the schools partly because they thought it would be easy to collect since the schools were insured," Dietz said when asked about the cyber insurance being the silver bullet of protection.
