The target: Imperva, cyber-security firm based out of California.
The take: A complete copy of their customer information database.
The attack vector: Imperva uploaded a snapshot of its customer database for testing. However, in an unrelated incident, they left one of their internal systems publicly accessible on the internet from which the attacker stole key to the recently uploaded database. Using the key, the hacker was able to download a copy of the customer information.
After Imperva adopted cloud technologies to scale their infrastructure to meet increasing needs, they failed to account for the increased risk of this strategy. Cyber-security diligence applies at all levels of scale including times of expansion and investment in new technology.