Customer FAQ Regarding the Recent Cyber Attack
December 30, 2020
- Q1: What data was stolen?
The leaked information comes from records of Advantech employees and a part of clients’ contacts, which include their email address (UserID), company name, company address, company telephone number, and extension information. If you frequently use Advantech systems, we strongly suggest you regularly change your password.
- Q2: Did Advantech take any follow up actions with customers regarding their leaked information?
Besides taking prompt action in detecting the security breech, we worked tirelessly to restore our critical servers. Advantech sent individual emails to customers and quickly established a task force team and contact window (privacy@advantech.com) to keep everyone informed.
- Q3: What actions did Advantech take regarding the cyber security issue?
Advantech has made significant investments to upgrade all its IT systems and security mechanisms.
- Q4: What is Advantech’s action plan going forward to prevent more data leaks?
Advantech will start from 3 aspects:
1) Transparency is important so statements will be promptly released if more data is compromised.
2) The whole data security structure upgrade is now complete and endpoint devices and data protection have been strengthened.
3) Advanced cyber security measures such as multi-factor authentication and strong encryption of crucial information has been implemented.
- Q5: Does Advantech have an information security team or someone dedicated to information security, or an external agency contracted to maintain the security of Advantech’s networks and systems?
Advantech has an IT infrastructure team with 20+ staff (excluding an IT help desk team) capacity worldwide. Half of them are located in our Taipei HQ. The others are located in IT centers in the US, Europe, and China. We also work with several external agencies such as Microsoft, Deloitte, TrendMicro and others to perform regular security checks and emergency support for Advantech.
- Q6: Does Advantech have a SOC (Security Operations Center) that provides monitoring and warning alerts 24/7?
We have an enhanced security mechanism for all server fundamentals, VPN remote access, and end-point solutions for servers, desktops, and notebooks. A 24/7/365 monitoring and warning alert system is also in place which provides visibility of each user's behavior which will alert the security team to any irregular network behaviors.