Hackers attempted to blackmail online survey platform QuestionPro after claiming to have stolen the company's database containing personal information of respondents.
See also: Critical RCE vulnerability affects 29 DrayTek router models
QuestionPro is an online service that allows businesses to create and conduct surveys to conduct market research.
The company told BleepingComputer that it is currently determining whether a data breach occurred and has worked with law enforcement to investigate the incident.
See also: Spain: CSIC recovers after ransomware attack
However, the company confirmed that it suffered an attempted extortion, which was ignored, where a threat actor demanded a ransom payment in bitcoin to keep the data from being made public .
QuestionPro said that customers will be notified of a data theft incident if it is determined that a data breach has occurred .
The database contains 22 million unique emails
BleepingComputer learned of this incident last week from Troy Hunt, the owner of data breach notification service Have I Been Pwned, after he was contacted by a threat actor known as “pompompurin,” who claimed to have stolen QuestionPro’s database.
The threat actor has been involved in other high-profile, including sending fake cyberattack emails through the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal and stealing customer data from Robinhood.
Pompompurin initially told BleepingComputer that he downloaded the database on May 21 and reported the compromised database on May 23, but did not demand a ransom. However, it was later revealed that another threat actor involved in the incident attempted to extort QuestionPro.
Hunt, who reviewed the allegedly stolen database, said it contains records for about 22 million unique email addresses.
While it is impossible to verify the authenticity of the database, Hunt says it contains hundreds of thousands of @questionpro.com emails, indicating that the data is likely related to the service.
See also: Cisco fixes critical remote code execution bug in VPN routers
Data files shared on Have I Been Pwned include email addresses, IP addresses, geographic locations, and other information related to investigations.
Although the data breach has not been confirmed, if you have used QuestionPro in the past, you should be cautious and be on the lookout for targeted phishing emails.
Information source: bleepingcomputer.com
