Seiko confirms Data Breach

Seiko has revealed that an attack it has suffered earlier this year was carried out by the Black Cat ransomware.

Threat actors gained access to the network and stole some data from its systems.

The BlackCat ransomware gang has added Seiko to the list of victims published on its data leak site and published samples that were exfiltrated from the company network, including passport scans and projects of new watches

We had previously announced on August 10, 2023, about the unauthorized access to our servers (*). This unauthorized access was the result of a ransomware attack. Due to this incident, we have verified that certain information relating to our business partners and employees of the Seiko Group companies has been leaked.Currently, we have established an emergency response team and are collaborating with external cyber security experts to assess the full extent of the damage, determine its impact, and investigate its causes. Regarding this matter, we have already reported to the Personal Information Protection Commission and are working closely with law enforcement agencies to resolve the incident.

The investigation conducted by the company confirmed that threat actors had access approximately to 60,000 ‘items of personal data’ held by its ‘Group’ (SGC), ‘Watch’ (SWC), and ‘Instruments’ (SII) departments.

Leaked information includes:

• SWC customer information, including names, addresses, telephone numbers, and/or email addresses
• Contact information for counterparties involved in business transactions with SGC, SWC, and/or SII, including the individual’s name, company affiliation, job title, company address, company phone number, and/or company email address
• Information supplied by applicants for employment with SGC and/or SWC, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and/or educational background information
• Personnel information, including names and/or email addresses, for both current and former employees of SGC and its group companies

Financial information, such as credit card information, of Seiko Watch customers was not exposed in the security breach.

Seiko states that it is working with experts to review all IT operations and systems and discover vulnerabilities in its systems; identify the scope of the data breach; enhance cybersecurity security and implement a more efficient monitoring; Implement third-party assessments and other measures to prevent any recurrence of this type of incident.