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2011 SecurID compromise — 40,000,000 tokens

2011 40.0M records affected Share on X

Data compromised

SecurID seed values; token security undermined

Technical writeup

Mar 2011. Sophisticated APT breached RSA via spearphishing (malicious Excel/Flash). Stole SecurID seed values; attackers could forge tokens. 40M token users affected. Stolen data used in May attack on Lockheed Martin. EMC (RSA parent) spent $66M in Q2. RSA replaced virtually all tokens.

Root cause

Spearphishing; Adobe Flash vulnerability; seed value theft.

References