On the back of one of the biggest global cyber hackings taking place a little over a week ago, comes yet another unforeseen attack, this time the victims being food service app Zomato and its customers.
Earlier this week, the India-based food delivery and review app announced that over 17 million user records were stolen and made available for purchase for roughly a $1000 or a Bitcoin payment. The information obtained included ‘‘user ID’s, names, usernames, email addresses and Zomato passwords’’ as stated by chief technologist at Zomato, Gunjan Patidar.
Patidar added ‘‘We have reset the passwords for all affected users and logged them out of the app and website, your zomato account is secure.’’
To be on the safer side, Zomato still does advise that those worried about being affected change their passwords on the app, as well as any other services (Facebook, Twitter, etc) using the same password.  In addition, the brand assures they will be working extensively over the weeks to come too ‘plug any more security gaps that we find in our systems.’
But we know what’s on your mind, and for good reason, what about my credit card details? Are they safe? The answer according to Mr. Patidar is yes, they are. Apparently payment information is stored separately and there hasn’t been any trace of that being leaked. Cue sigh of relief.
The hacking was initially thought to be the result of an internal security breach/error, but another update was released shortly after acknowledging a line of communication had been open with the hacker.
With over 120 million user visits monthly, operating in 23 countries, the areas hit the hardest haven’t been revealed yet but we wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve come across someone in the UAE who has been, considering the 2.7million monthly user average in the region just last year.
Bottom line, either way it seems like this one’s been relatively contained. But it does raise a larger point that brands and personal users alike need to be on high alert and beef up their online security measures.