Massive Data Breach at Advance Auto Parts: 2.3 Million Affected by Snowflake Cyberattack

Advance Auto Parts has alerted over 2.3 million people that Snowflake data theft attacks stole their personal data. It has 4,777 storefronts and 320 Worldpac locations, serving 1,152 independently owned Carquest stores in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, the USVI, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

On June 5, 2024, malware seller 'Sp1d3r' claimed that it sold a 3TB database containing 380 million Advance customer records, orders, transaction details, and other sensitive data. In a Form 8-K statement on June 19, Advance Auto Parts stated that the breach solely affects current and past workers and job candidates, as reported by BleepingComputer.

In this photo illustration a young man types on an illuminated computer keyboard typically favored by computer coders on January 25, 2021 in Berlin, Germany.

A larger effort targeting Snowflake accounts using stolen credentials also affected Pure Storage, Los Angeles Unified, Neiman Marcus, Ticketmaster, and Banco Santander.

Advance Auto Parts' internal investigation found 2,316,591 people affected by the data incident. Starting in mid-April 2024, threat actors had illegal access to Advance's Snowflake environment for nearly a month, according to data breach notice samples submitted to authorities.

Full names, SSNs, driver's licenses, and government ID numbers were taken. The firm claims it obtains this information throughout the hiring process; therefore, the 2.3 million figure refers to applicants and former or current workers whose data was stolen from the cloud database.

Experian is offering affected individuals 12 months of free identity theft protection and credit monitoring until October 1, 2024. They should watch out for unsolicited emails, check their accounts, set up fraud alerts, and freeze their credit.

What We Know About Snowflake Data Breach

Snowflake, a renowned cloud data platform, suffered a major data breach that might harm businesses and individuals.

On May 23, 2024, Snowflake identified improper account access. The original breach appeared tiny but became enormous. The hackers stole and sold data from Santander, Ticketmaster, LendingTree, and Advance Auto Parts, per Interesting Engineering.

A sophisticated phishing, malware, and data-stealing attack caused the breach. Attackers targeted single-factor authentication accounts using compromised device login credentials.

Snowflake received criticism for not automatically enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA), leaving many accounts vulnerable. Ticketmaster's attack compromised over 560 million customer details.

Together with cybersecurity professionals, Snowflake maintained transparency throughout the inquiry. Key updates showed that stolen credentials caused the hack, not platform flaws. Info-stealing software allowed attackers to access affected PCs' accounts without MFA.

To prevent breaches, Snowflake advised clients to employ MFA, limit access to authorized users, and reset login credentials. Snowflake helps clients secure and manage their data as the data breach revealed serious weaknesses but taught the importance of strong security and constant improvement.

Job Searchers Warned Over AI Powered Scammers

Separately, security experts warn that scammers are increasingly utilizing artificial intelligence, resulting in 118% more fraudulent transactions than the previous year. Criminals are using AI-generated job postings to deceive job hunters, per an earlier TechTimes report.

The Identity Theft Resource Center issued the Trends in Identity Report, highlighting victim data from the year. When job seekers were browsing internet employment offers, cybersecurity researchers warned them about the latest WARMCOOKIE phishing campaign.

Popular job sites used by fraudsters include LinkedIn and job search platforms. Scammers pretend to be recruiters and create fake job listings to attract job seekers. Information from the application is stolen.

AI-driven technologies are likely behind identity scam's rapid improvement in appearance, feel, and messaging, according to the report.

The organization advises users to call and verify the contact, saying that the best defense against new technologies is much simpler.