Pearson hit by cyberattack: Source code, customer info, cloud data stolen
In a statement, Pearson acknowledged the breach, stating that an unauthorized actor had accessed part of their systems and downloaded what the company described as "largely legacy data."
While employee data was not affected, customer and partner data may have been compromised.
The company is still investigating the scope of the breach.
The breach reportedly stems from an exposed GitLab Personal Access Token (PAT) found in a public .git/config file, which granted attackers access to Pearson's internal source code and hard-coded credentials for AWS, Google Cloud, and Salesforce CRM.
According to sources, the attackers used the access to extract terabytes of data, including customer records, financial documents, support tickets, and internal cloud data — potentially impacting millions of users worldwide.
Pearson stated they have involved law enforcement and deployed new security measures, including improved monitoring and authentication protocols.
However, the company declined to comment on whether a ransom was paid or how many customers were affected.
The incident is reportedly linked to a January breach of Pearson's subsidiary PDRI, suggesting the attack may have unfolded over several months.
Security researchers warn that exposed Git configuration files and embedded access tokens remain a growing vulnerability for companies using cloud services.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Indian jeweller Titan to buy large stake in Dubai's Damas
Titan Company will buy a 67% stake in Dubai-based luxury jeweller Damas at an enterprise value of 1.04 billion dirham ($283.2 million), making it one of the largest Indian jewellers in the Middle East. The Tata Group company expects to complete the deal by January 31, 2026 and will have the right to acquire the remaining 33% stake in Damas after December 31, 2029, it said in an exchange filing on Monday. Titan has had a presence in the UAE since October 2020 through its Tanishq jewellery stores. After the deal, Titan, which has about seven stores in the United Arab Emirates, will gain access to Damas' 146 stores across the six GCC countries – UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. The Middle East is home to a large Indian diaspora, for whom gold is a traditional investment choice. Asia gold: India demand muted despite price correction; buying picks up in China, Singapore Other Indian jewellers in the region include the likes of Kalyan Jewellers, Joy Allukkas and Malabar Gold & Diamonds. Damas, which was previously listed on Nasdaq Dubai, was taken over by Qatar's Mannai Corporation and Egyptian investment bank EFG Hermes in 2012 for $445 million. EFG Hermes sold its entire 19% stake in the jeweller in 2014 to Mannai. Standard Chartered was Titan's advisor for the deal.
Business Recorder
4 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Palm ends lower on weak soyoil, poor export data
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures closed down on Monday, reversing the previous session's gains, as softer soyoil prices and weaker export data pressured the market. The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 89 ringgit, or 2.06%, to 4,226 ringgit ($998.35) a metric ton at the close. Crude palm oil futures traded lower due to weaker soybean oil prices and also declining exports, said David Ng, a proprietary trader at Kuala Lumpur-based trading firm Iceberg X Sdn Bhd. Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 0.47%, while its palm oil contract climbed 0.16%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.79%. Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market. Palm oil makes more than 3% weekly gain for highest close in 14 weeks Cargo surveyors estimated that exports of Malaysian palm oil products for July 1-20 fell between 3.5% and 7.3% from a month earlier. The ringgit, palm's currency of trade, strengthened 0.26% against the dollar, making the commodity more expensive for buyers holding foreign currencies. Oil prices dipped slightly, with the latest European sanctions on Russian oil expected to have minimal impact on supplies while U.S. tariffs ensure demand concerns remain. Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.
Express Tribune
5 hours ago
- Express Tribune
US hosts Pakistan military chief at White House, India responds by warming to China
US President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner with Republican Senators, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 18, 2025. Photo: Reuters US President Donald Trump's lunch meeting with Pakistan's military chief prompted a private diplomatic protest from India in a warning to Washington about risks to their bilateral ties, while New Delhi is recalibrating relations with China as a hedge, officials and analysts said. The meeting and other tensions in the US-India relationship, after decades of flourishing ties, have cast a shadow on trade negotiations, they said, as Trump's administration weighs tariffs against one of its major partners in the Indo-Pacific. India blames Pakistan, especially its military establishment, for supporting what it calls cross-border terrorism and has told the US it is sending the wrong signals by wooing Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, three senior Indian government officials directly aware of the matter told Reuters. It has created a sore spot that will hamper relations going forward, they said. Pakistan denies accusations that it supports militants who attack Indian targets and that New Delhi has provided no evidence that it is involved. US-India ties have strengthened in the past two decades despite minor hiccups, at least partly because both countries seek to counter China. The current problems are different, said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation think tank. "The frequency and intensity with which the US is engaging with Pakistan, and seemingly not taking Indian concerns into account, especially after India's recent conflict with Pakistan, has contributed to a bit of a bilateral malaise." "The concern this time around is that one of the triggers for broader tensions, that being Trump's unpredictability, is extending into the trade realm with his approach to tariffs," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office and India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The foreign ministry has previously said that it had "taken note" of the Trump-Munir meeting. A US official said they do not comment on private diplomatic communications and that the United States enjoys strong relationships with both India and Pakistan. "These relationships stand on their own merits, and we do not compare our bilateral relationships with one another," the US official said. LUNCH AT THE WHITE HOUSE The US seems to have taken a different tack on Pakistan after a brief conflict broke out between the nuclear-armed rivals in May when India launched strikes on what it called terrorist targets across the border in response to a deadly attack on tourists from the majority Hindu community in Indian Kashmir the previous month. After four days of aerial dogfights, missile and drone attacks, the two sides agreed to a cease-fire. Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan have skirmished regularly and fought three full-scale wars since independence in 1947, two of them over the disputed Kashmir region. A few weeks after the May fighting, Trump hosted Munir for lunch at the White House, a major boost in ties with the country, which had largely languished under Trump's first term and Joe Biden. It was the first time a US president had hosted the head of Pakistan's army, considered the most powerful man in the country, at the White House unaccompanied by senior Pakistani civilian officials. Indian leaders have said Munir's view of India and Pakistan is steeped in religion. "Tourists were murdered in front of their families after ascertaining their faith," Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in May, referring to the Kashmir attack. "To understand that, you've got to also have a Pakistani leadership, especially their army chief, who is driven by an extreme religious outlook". Pakistan says it is Modi who is driven by religious extremism, and that his brand of Hindu nationalism has trampled on the rights of India's large Muslim minority. Modi and the Indian government say they do not discriminate against minorities. Munir's meeting in the White House added to India's chagrin over Trump's repeated insistence that he averted nuclear war between the two nations by threatening to stop trade negotiations with them. The comment drew a sharp response from Modi, who told Trump that the ceasefire was achieved through talks between army commanders of the two nations, and not US mediation. In the days following his June 18 meeting with Munir, people from Modi's office and India's national security adviser's office made separate calls to their US counterparts to register a protest, two of the officials said. The protest has not been previously reported. "We have communicated to the US our position on cross-border terrorism, which is a red line for us," said a senior Indian official. "These are difficult times ... Trump's inability to understand our concerns does create some wrinkle in ties," he added, seeking anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. Trump and Munir discussed continuation of a counter-terrorism collaboration, under which the US has previously provided weapons to Pakistan, a non-NATO US ally, and talked about ways to further strengthen ties, a Pakistani readout of the meeting said. That raised concern in New Delhi that any arms Pakistan receives from the US could be turned on India if the neighbours end up in conflict again, two of the officials said. HARDER STANCE Despite what used to be public displays of bonhomie between Trump and Modi, India has been taking a slightly harder stance against the US in recent weeks, while trade discussions have also slowed, the Indian officials and an Indian industry lobbyist said. Modi declined an invitation from Trump to visit Washington after the G7 meeting in Canada in June. Earlier this month, New Delhi proposed retaliatory duties against the US at the World Trade Organization, showing trade talks were not going as smoothly as they were before the India-Pakistan clashes. India, like other nations, is trying to figure out a way to deal with Trump and is recalibrating ties with China as a hedge, said Harsh Pant, foreign policy head at India's Observer Research Foundation think tank. "Certainly there is an outreach to China," he said. "And I think it is is also reaching out". Last week, India's Jaishankar made his first visit to Beijing since a deadly 2020 border clash between Indian and Chinese troops. India is also making moves to ease restrictions on investments from China that were imposed following the 2020 clash. The thaw comes despite India's prickly relations with China and Beijing's close ties and military support to Pakistan. But New Delhi's concern about Trump's own engagement with China, which has ranged from conciliatory to confrontational, appears to have contributed to its shift in stance on Beijing. "With an unpredictable dealmaker in the White House, New Delhi cannot rule out Sino-US rapprochement," said Christopher Clary, an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany, New York. "India is troubled by Chinese help to Pakistan and growing Chinese influence elsewhere in India's near abroad, such as Bangladesh. Yet New Delhi has largely concluded that it should respond to creeping Chinese influence by focusing its pressures on its nearest neighbours and not on China."
