Computer Giant Dell Allegedly Breached, Employee and Partners Data Leaked

A notorious hacker known by the alias “grep” has claimed responsibility for a data breach at Dell, leaking sensitive employee data on the infamous cybercriminal forum, BreachForums. The post, which surfaced on September 19, 2024, purports to contain information on over 10,800 employees, including those from Dell's partners.

The hacker “grep” is a known figure in the cybercrime community, previously tied to the recent alleged data breach involving Capgemini, which has neither been confirmed nor denied yet. In the Dell post, “grep” shared details of the compromised data, which reportedly includes:

• Employee IDs
• Full names of employees
• Employee status (active or inactive)
• Internal IDs associated with Dell employees

The data breach appears to target Dell's internal workforce as well as some partners. Notably, employees from prominent technology partners such as Micron, Foxconn, and Wistron were also listed, exposing further risks to their internal operations. While it is not yet clear how the breach occurred, the exposed data includes employees who are both currently active and inactive within the company's systems.

Dell Technologies, headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, is one of the largest multinational technology companies globally. Established in 1984 by Michael Dell, the company has grown into a major player in the personal computing, enterprise solutions, and IT services markets. With tens of thousands of employees worldwide, any breach of internal data poses a serious threat to the company's security infrastructure and reputation.

Dell's response

In response to our inquiry, Dell has stated: “We are aware of the claims and our security team is currently investigating.”

The threat actor's ties to a hacking collective known as “Cyber Niggers” adds some credibility to the allegations. This group, which includes other high-profile cybercriminals like IntelBroker, is known for its role in numerous data breaches across industries, many of which were later confirmed by the victims.

The timing and scope of this breach suggest Dell's internal security measures may have been compromised, although the full extent of the damage remains unclear.

The post shared by “grep” included sample entries with detailed employee data, but the complete set was made available for the nominal cost of a single credit, corresponding to a minuscule amount in cryptocurrency. Typically, threat actors on BreachForums add this as a protection against automatic scraping and search engine indexing, ensuring that only registered members get access to the data.