Hackers be hacking: NordVPN servers compromised

NordVPN's a popular tool that many people turn to for keeping their shit private while the plumb the depths of the Interwebz. It's available to use with a number of different operating systems. While I'm not fond of what I found while writing about them a few years back (for the record, I rely on ProtonVPN for my online privacy needs) The service is good enough for a whole lot of people.

Or at least it was. Because it's been hacked.

From TechCrunch:

The admission comes following rumors that the company had been breached. It first emerged that NordVPN had an expired internal private key exposed, potentially allowing anyone to spin out their own servers imitating NordVPN.

...NordVPN told TechCrunch that one of its data centers was accessed in March 2018. "One of the data centers in Finland we are renting our servers from was accessed with no authorization," said NordVPN spokesperson Laura Tyrell.

The attacker gained access to the server - which had been active for about a month - by exploiting an insecure remote management system left by the data center provider; NordVPN said it was unaware that such a system existed.

NordVPN did not name the data center provider.

So, that sucks.

According to TechCrunch, the infiltrated server didn't contain any user activity logs, which is nice. Additionally, NordVPN's spokesperson swears that there's no way that a motivated attacker could have intercepted usernames or passwords. This of course, is like saying that you shit the bed, but the pillows are fine. NordVPN goes on to admit that the information snagged could, however, be used to initiate a man-in-the-middle attack.

Sleep well.

Image via Pixabay