Registered attendees of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 Shanghai are facing online security issues because their details were hacked.
GSMA, which organized MWC 2016 Shanghai, did not reveal the number of registered attendees who attended the telecom event in Asia last week.
GSMA said an individual or individuals made unauthorized access to a database system managed by a third-party supplier for Mobile World Congress Shanghai. The supplier has now secured the online system. The supplier has provided the GSMA access to its system to conduct a thorough analysis of the hacking incident.
GSMA did not provide the details of the supplier, which managed the system.
Mobile World Congress Shanghai attendees with any questions regarding this issue should contact customercare@mwcshanghai.com.
The system that was accessed contained information on Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2016 attendees, including name, company, mobile number, email address and password used for registration and, for those attendees that requested a visa invitation letter from the GSMA, their passport details. The individual did not access any financial and credit card or payment details.
“Our first priority is preserving the trust of our customers and we are moving swiftly to address this issue. We apologise for any concern or inconvenience this has caused. We take this matter very seriously, are investigating it fully, and are working with authorities to address it,” said GSMA in a statement.
GSMAI says this online security issue affects only those individuals that registered to attend Mobile World Congress Shanghai; it does not impact attendees for the GSMA’s other events, nor does it affect the GSMA’s member database or other systems.
GSMA recommends that attendees should discontinue use of the password they used during the registration process.
Though this hacking incident did not affect any credit card or payment systems, GSMA recommends that registered attendees should monitor their accounts for any unusual activity and report it accordingly. Individuals who may be concerned that their passport details have been compromised can also report the issue to their respective embassies.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
