Sizmek is the largest independent buy-side advertising platform in the United States. Recently a user account was obtained by a hacker and it is now being advertised with a starting price of $800. This could prove to be a dangerous because it could be purchased, and hackers could then use the account to create new ads or add malicious content to the already existing ones by placing HTML code within them. Hackers could also end up hijacking referral commissions from other customers and end up making a profit from other advertisements. A spokesperson for Sizmek stated, “We’re now doing some level of screening to see if there’s been any kind of intrusion we can detect. It seemed like [the screenshots were accounts from] past employees. I think there were even a couple of vendors that had access to the system previously.” The company is currently working on taking down the accounts of those who could have possibly been hijacked.
Analyst Notes
Current users of the platforms should change their password immediately, and if the password is the same for any other accounts, they should change those as soon as possible too. Account activity should be monitored for unusual activity that could occur due to the breach.
