Global accounting firm Deloitte on Monday said it was the victim of a cyberattack that affected the data of a small number of clients, providing few details on the breach.
Deloitte said in a statement that attackers accessed data from the company’s e-mail platform, confirming some details in a report by the Guardian newspaper, which broke news of the hack on Monday.
The attack that appeared to target the firm’s US operations was discovered in March and could have begun as early as October last year, the Guardian said.
Deloitte’s statement did not confirm those details.
The breach at Deloitte, which says its customers include 80 percent of the Fortune 500, is the latest in a series of breaches involving organizations that handle sensitive financial data.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street’s top regulator, and Equifax Inc, one of the largest credit-monitoring bureaus, this month reported that confidential filings and sensitive personal data were compromised by hackers.
“These are targeted attacks on financial opportunity,” said Shane Shook, an independent consultant who helps financial firms investigate cyberattacks. “This trend is going to continue to grow.”
The firm said that it contacted government authorities immediately after it became aware of the incident and notified each of the “very few clients” that had been affected.
Deloitte is a “Big Four” firm that provides accounting, auditing and consulting services, including advice on mergers and acquisitions. It also runs a cybersecurity business that helps customers defend their networks and investigate breaches.
The Guardian said that Deloitte had contacted six clients. The company did not name the clients, confirm the number of clients it had contacted or say what type of data was stolen.
“No disruption has occurred to client businesses, to Deloitte’s ability to continue to serve clients or to consumers,” the statement said.
Deloitte said it had implemented a “comprehensive security protocol” after the incident was discovered, using internal and external experts to help respond.
It is too soon to say how serious the attack was, because so little is known about what happened, former federal cybercrime prosecutor Mark Rasch said.
However, he said the attack is still “a big deal,” because Deloitte holds sensitive information about its customers across business units that provide accounting services, review data on potential acquisitions and perform cybersecurity services.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment, citing agency policy to neither confirm nor deny investigations.
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