MDM vendor Mobile Guardian attacked, leading to remote wiping of 13,000 devices
(2024/08/06)
- Reference: 1722918345
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/08/06/mobile_guardian_mdm_attack/
- Source link:
UK-based mobile device management vendor Mobile Guardian has admitted that on August 4 it suffered a security incident that involved unauthorized access to iOS and ChromeOS devices managed by its tools, which are currently unavailable. In Singapore, the incident resulted in 13,000 devices being remotely wiped and saw the nation's Education Ministry cut ties with the vendor.
Mobile Guardian focuses on the education sector – offering device management, web filtering, and classroom management tools.
The vendor has [1]advised customers that the August 4 attack "resulted in a small percentage of devices to be unenrolled from Mobile Guardian," which somehow led to remote wiping. Customers in Europe and North America are also at risk.
[2]
"There is no evidence to suggest that the perpetrator had access to users' data," the advisory assures.
[3]
[4]
But one big user is nonetheless angry.
Singapore's Education Ministry, which [5]became a Mobile Guardian customer in 2020 , revealed on Monday that some 13,000 school students' devices were wiped. The Ministry subsequently [6]ordered the removal of Mobile Guardian's software from its devices as a precautionary measure.
[7]
The Ministry considering alternative ways to secure devices while Mobile Guardian's troubles persist. In the meantime, it has deployed additional "roving" IT teams to assist schools and students.
"We understand that students are naturally concerned and anxious about the incident," the Ministry wrote, in a masterpiece of understatement.
[8]School gets an F for using facial recognition on kids in canteen
[9]70% of CISOs worry their org is at risk of a material cyber attack
[10]Walmart runs creepy 'advergame' on Roblox, where kids can make toy wish lists
[11]Singapore to offer enterprises incentives to buy greener hardware
Mobile Guardian has had a difficult few months.
In April, another unauthorized access incident saw names and email addresses of parents and school staff from 127 Singaporean schools [12]exposed .
Last week, Singaporean students faced a technical issue that prevented some students from connecting to the internet on iPads. That root cause was found to be a configuration error.
[13]
Both MoE and Mobile Guardian have confirmed the latest cyber attack is unrelated to the configuration error incident. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.mobileguardian.com/security-incident-august-2024/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.mobileguardian.com/mobile-guardian-appointed-official-singapore-moe-vendor/
[6] https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/20240805-mobile-guardian-device-management-application-to-be-removed-from-personal-learning-devices
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/24/essex_school_facial_recognition/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/23/cisco_survey_2024/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/25/walmarts_advergame_on_roblox_pushes/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/31/singapore_green_datacenter_roadmap/
[12] https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/20240419-no-sensitive-data-compromised--from-unauthorised-access-into-mobile-guardians-systems
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Mobile Guardian focuses on the education sector – offering device management, web filtering, and classroom management tools.
The vendor has [1]advised customers that the August 4 attack "resulted in a small percentage of devices to be unenrolled from Mobile Guardian," which somehow led to remote wiping. Customers in Europe and North America are also at risk.
[2]
"There is no evidence to suggest that the perpetrator had access to users' data," the advisory assures.
[3]
[4]
But one big user is nonetheless angry.
Singapore's Education Ministry, which [5]became a Mobile Guardian customer in 2020 , revealed on Monday that some 13,000 school students' devices were wiped. The Ministry subsequently [6]ordered the removal of Mobile Guardian's software from its devices as a precautionary measure.
[7]
The Ministry considering alternative ways to secure devices while Mobile Guardian's troubles persist. In the meantime, it has deployed additional "roving" IT teams to assist schools and students.
"We understand that students are naturally concerned and anxious about the incident," the Ministry wrote, in a masterpiece of understatement.
[8]School gets an F for using facial recognition on kids in canteen
[9]70% of CISOs worry their org is at risk of a material cyber attack
[10]Walmart runs creepy 'advergame' on Roblox, where kids can make toy wish lists
[11]Singapore to offer enterprises incentives to buy greener hardware
Mobile Guardian has had a difficult few months.
In April, another unauthorized access incident saw names and email addresses of parents and school staff from 127 Singaporean schools [12]exposed .
Last week, Singaporean students faced a technical issue that prevented some students from connecting to the internet on iPads. That root cause was found to be a configuration error.
[13]
Both MoE and Mobile Guardian have confirmed the latest cyber attack is unrelated to the configuration error incident. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.mobileguardian.com/security-incident-august-2024/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.mobileguardian.com/mobile-guardian-appointed-official-singapore-moe-vendor/
[6] https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/20240805-mobile-guardian-device-management-application-to-be-removed-from-personal-learning-devices
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/24/essex_school_facial_recognition/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/23/cisco_survey_2024/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/25/walmarts_advergame_on_roblox_pushes/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/31/singapore_green_datacenter_roadmap/
[12] https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/20240419-no-sensitive-data-compromised--from-unauthorised-access-into-mobile-guardians-systems
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZrH0Rew@hKS-jz6zf6spxgAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Security......See Also.......
Anonymous Coward
https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2024/08/05/national_public_data_lawsuit/
Scary Headlines
Headley_Grange
When I read the headline I assumed that it was the UK's Guardian newspaper app that had caused the problem and went to get my phone, half expecting my phone to be wiped. Too scary a start to the day for my liking!
New Excuse
An_Old_Dog
"Ms. Faraday?" (schoolchild raises hand) "This school's #$)=[[]%©?;**! IT systems were pwned. The bad guys erased my homework and wiped my Chromebook!"
Perhaps not an excuse, any more.
Of course -- security is someone else's problem -- NOT!!
Quote: "....alternative ways to secure devices..."
Here we go again! Depending on large faceless interweb services to provide "security"!
(1) The debate about "privacy versus crime" focuses on E2EE and backdoors (you know, Signal, WhatsApp, etc., etc)
(2) Mobile Guardian (who??) to provide "secure devices" for the smartphone community
Why not start by admitting that the interweb is insecure by design??
....and why not do something about that FUNDAMENTAL problem??
Suggestions please!!