(I used to work for Cognizant. This doesn't surpise me at all. 90%
East Indian and nearly all are barely competent to read from a script
and can barely speak English. What could go wrong? Social engineering
is still a very good way to hack but modern IT denies that.)

From: https://shorturl.at/lhWNh (nypost.com)

===
Clorox sues IT firm Cognizant over cyberattack, alleges hackers got passwords
simply by asking

By Reuters
Published July 22, 2025, 3:19 p.m. ET

Bleach maker Clorox said Tuesday that it has sued information technology
provider Cognizant over a devastating 2023 cyberattack, alleging that the
hackers pulled off the intrusion simply by asking the tech company's staff
for employees' passwords.

Clorox was one of several major companies hit in August 2023 by the
hacking group dubbed Scattered Spider, which specializes in tricking IT
help desks into handing over credentials and then using that access to
lock them up for ransom.

The group is often described as unusually sophisticated and persistent,
but in a case filed in California state court on Tuesday, Clorox said one
of Scattered Spider's hackers was able to repeatedly steal employees'
passwords simply by asking for them.

"Cognizant was not duped by any elaborate ploy or sophisticated hacking
techniques," according to a copy of the lawsuit reviewed by Reuters. "The
cybercriminal just called the Cognizant Service Desk, asked for
credentials to access Clorox's network, and Cognizant handed the
credentials right over."

Cognizant did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the
suit, which was not immediately visible on the public docket of the
Superior Court of Alameda County. Clorox provided Reuters with a receipt
for the lawsuit from the court.

Three partial transcripts included in the lawsuit allegedly show
conversations between the hacker and Cognizant support staff in which the
intruder asks to have passwords reset and the support staff complies
without verifying who they are talking to, for example by quizzing them on
their employee identification number or their manager's name.

"I don't have a password, so I can't connect," the hacker says in one
call. The agent replies, "Oh, ok. Ok. So let me provide the password to
you ok?"

The 2023 hack caused $380 million in damages, Clorox said in the suit,
about $50 million of which were tied to remedial costs and the rest of
which were attributable to Clorox's inability to ship products to
retailers in the wake of the hack.

Clorox said the clean-up was hampered by other failures by Cognizant's
staff, including failure to de-activate certain accounts or properly
restore data.
===

-- Sean

... If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
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