– Retool, a software development company, fell victim to a social engineering attack leading to a breach of 27 cloud accounts.
– The San Francisco firm pointed fingers at a newly introduced Google Account cloud synchronization feature which was launched in April 2023, amplifying the breach.
– Retool labelled this Google feature a ‘dark pattern’.

Retool’s Data Breach: A “Tool” Hard to Handle

In a development more hole-filled than a Swiss cheese, Retool, the software development company, ended up with 27 compromised cloud accounts. Yes, you read it right, not one, not two, but 27. A classic example of when an upgrade feels more like a ‘down’grade, folks.

Social Engineering: More Social, Less Engineering?

The culprit behind this security hiccup? A detrimental mix of targeted and SMS-based social engineering attack. It’s crazy, right? We secure our systems with complex passwords and face recognitions only to be duped by an old-school social trickery. That’s like bringing a sword to a gun fight and still managing to lose!

Google’s Dark Pattern: The Invisible “Improvemen-tool”

But wait, there’s more! It turns out a recently introduced Google Account cloud synchronization feature, no older than a baby born in April 2023, ended up being the icing on the breach-cake. Rather than being a helpful asset, it played a stellar role in making the breach worse. This feature did a wonderful job at being the weakest link, making it a ‘dark pattern’ in Retool’s security saga.

In conclusion, this unfortunate incident highlights the new dangers in the tech world, where a simple misstep can snowball into a full-blown security crisis. Retool found this out the hard way with 27 of its cloud accounts becoming victims to a targeted and SMS-based social engineering attack, worsened by the not-so-helpful Google Account synchronization feature from April 2023. While these issues certainly put a damper on things, let’s hope it at least served as a wake-up call to tighten cybersecurity measures. After all, with every cloud (customer account) breach, there’s a silver lining (lesson)!

Original Article: https://thehackernews.com/2023/09/retool-falls-victim-to-sms-based.html