RSVP Site Evite Suffers Data Breach - Olmec Skip to main content

RSVP Site Evite Suffers Data Breach

By July 9, 2019May 17th, 2022Cybersecurity

The hacker who calls himself ‘Gnosticplayers’ has been busy and prolific.  Over the years, he’s sold more than one billion user accounts on the Dark Web.  His most recent product is more than ten million user records for the social planning and e-invitations service, Evite. ZDNet researchers first discovered the data for sale on the Dark Web back in April of this year, and at that time, reached out to the company to inform them.

For reasons unknown, Evite was slow to respond and did not formally admit to the hack until nearly two months later.

Despite their sluggish response, as of now, the incident has been published on Evite’s blog, along with a few details.  According to the official statement, the incident has been traced back to malicious activity starting on February 22nd, 2019.  Additionally, they announced that “potentially affected information could include names, usernames, email addresses, passwords, and, if optionally provided to us, dates of birth, phone numbers, and mailing addresses.”

At this point, we don’t know if the ten million records already put up for sale on the Dark Web represents all of the data that Gnosticplayers made off with, or if we’ll be seeing more in the weeks and months ahead. Apparently the data did not include Social Security Numbers or payment information of any kind, which is as close to a silver lining as one is likely to see in situations like these.

As is common after a data breach, Evite indicated that they were working with law enforcement and engaged the services of a third-party security company to assist them with the investigation. As part of the overall remediation effort, they were force-resetting all user passwords.  If you use the site, don’t be surprised when you’re prompted to reset yours at your next login.

Overall, we’re a little underwhelmed by the company’s response.  At this point, we’ve seen enough of these kinds of incidents to know what to expect. The company’s unaccountable delay in acknowledging the incident has us scratching our heads.  In any case, it’s now common knowledge, so if you use the site, be aware. You may be on the receiving end of phishing emails and other attempts to gain access to an even greater amount of your personal information.

Jason Manteiga

Jason J. Manteiga, Vice President of Olmec Systems, has been part of the company for over the past 20 years. He believes that having a great work environment and supportive team, is the ultimate key to success. Since being in the IT realm for over 25 years, Jason, along with Olmec Systems, has been on the Inc. 5000 “List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” and Channel Futures MSP 501 “Top Managed Service Providers in North America,” along with other awards and nominations. Jason earned his Bachelor Degree in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds certifications in Microsoft MCSE, VMWare VCP, and Cisco CCNA. In his spare time, Jason is a contributor for The Center for Social & Legal Research (Privacy Exchange) and a member of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. His hobbies include cycling and kayaking. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters and son.