Deloitte and Accenture Breaches

Target Audience

Undergraduate
Graduate

Keywords

Deloitte
Accenture
Data breach
Patch Management
Business Management

Introduction

Overview

In 2017, the large professional services firms Deloitte and Accenture suffered major security breaches. Both incidents exposed sensitive internal data and highlighted serious lapses in basic cybersecurity hygiene. Deloitte's incident involved unauthorized access to confidential client emails, while Accenture mistakenly exposed sensitive credentials through misconfigured cloud storage. These breaches were especially damaging to their reputations, given that both companies advise others on cybersecurity best practices. This breach showed how even industry leaders are not immune to security oversights

Vulnerability Details

The Deloitte breach occurred due to a compromised administrative account that lacked multi-factor authentication. This gave attackers access to the firm's systems leading to sensitive documents being leaked. Investigations revealed credentials were stored insecurely and shared via public platforms, including GitHub and Google+. On the other hand, Accenture's security lapse stemmed from leaving multiple Amazon S3 storage buckets publicly accessible. These buckets contained API data, decryption keys, and internal infrastructure details. Although Accenture claimed no client data was compromised, the situation highlighted poor access control and cloud misconfiguration practices. Both cases demonstrated the need for encrypted credential storage, strict IAM policies, and realtime cloud monitoring

Learning Objectives

Describe the Deloitte and Accenture breaches of 2017
Explain the vulnerabilities attackers used in these breaches
List potential defenses that could prevent similar attacks

Download

Includes a PDF case study adapted from a real-world cyber breach
Guided questions for student engagement
Instructor materials including context and background
All content packaged in a downloadable ZIP file

Remote Terminal

Terminal Description

Module Questions

What happened in the Deloitte data breach of 2017?Deloitte's internal app was hacked, leaking confidential project details.A phishing attack allowed hackers to steal customer credit card information from Deloitte's website.Hackers exploited a misconfiguration in Deloitte's cloud storage to access client emails and sensitive data.An internal server at Deloitte was compromised, exposing user passwords.

What are two effective security mechanisms to prevent similar breaches in large organizations like Deloitte?Allowing all employees to have full access to internal systems.Disabling internal firewalls to simplify workflows.Using weak encryption methods to reduce overhead.Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) and encrypting sensitive data in transit and at rest.

How can organizations improve cloud storage security to prevent data leaks?Only use cloud storage for temporary files.Allow public access to all cloud storage for convenience.Use proper access controls, enable encryption, implement logging and monitoring, and ensure cloud configurations are regularly reviewed and patched.Disable encryption to improve access speed.

What IT weaknesses were present in Deloitte's and Accenture's systems that enabled the breaches?Too many firewalls blocking internal communication.Relying on external vendors for all security matters.Lack of multi-factor authentication, weak access controls, and poorly configured cloud storage.Use of outdated encryption methods and unmonitored cloud infrastructure.

As the CIO of Deloitte or Accenture, how would you improve IT security and protect sensitive client data?Only patch systems once a year to reduce costs.Implement comprehensive data encryption, enforce strict access control policies, conduct regular security audits, and implement multi-factor authentication for all sensitive systems.Reduce monitoring of internal systems to improve speed.Limit the use of encryption to save processing power.