Ad and PR Giant Dentsu Says Hackers Stole Merkle Data

According to Dentsu, Japan-based ad and PR giant, the Merkle data breach impacted its subsidiary Merkle’s systems and affected clients, suppliers and employees. The breach was discovered after abnormal activity on the Merkle network, and some systems have been shut down in response. Dentsu said the compromised files are believed to include sensitive information such as personal contact details, salary, bank and payroll data, and National Insurance numbers.

It reported that impacted individuals are being notified and offered free dark web monitoring services, and noted that its systems in Japan are not affected, with some financial impact expected in due course. It remains unclear whether the incident involved ransomware, and no cybercrime group had taken public credit for the attack at the time of writing.