[BreachExchange] Financial Services Firms Exposed 500, 000 Sensitive Documents

[Destry Winant]

https://www.securityweek.com/financial-services-firms-exposed-500000-sensitive-documents

Researchers say two financial services companies have exposed over
500,000 sensitive legal and financial documents by storing them in an
unprotected AWS S3 bucket.

vpnMentor’s research team discovered the exposed database in December
2019. An investigation revealed that the files appeared to be
connected to a merchant cash advance mobile app named MCA Wizard and
they likely belonged to Advantage Capital Funding and Argus Capital
Funding.

The now-defunct MCA Wizard app was developed by the two companies,
which share the same physical address and even some employees.
Advantage and Argus help small businesses in the United States obtain
funding.

When vpnMentor’s attempts to alert the firms failed, it decided to
notify AWS directly, which removed access to the database within two
days.

The more than 500,000 exposed documents, totaling 425Gb of data,
included credit reports, contracts, bank statements, driver’s
licenses, legal paperwork, tax returns, purchase orders, transaction
reports for payment cards and merchant accounts, social security
information, and access information for bank accounts.

“This leak raises serious credibility and trust issues for Advantage
and Argus. By not sufficiently securing this database and revealing so
much information, they have compromised the safety, privacy, and
security of their clients, partners, and customers,” vpnMentor said in
a blog post.

“Those affected may take action against Advantage and Argus for doing
so, either from ceasing to do business with either company or possibly
pursuing legal actions. Both would result in considerable loss of
clients, contracts, business relationships, and ultimately, revenue,”
it added.

Malicious hackers could have also leveraged the exposed data to launch
attacks against the two companies, researchers said.