Hello,
For as long as we have been making software for community builders we, at SocialEngine, have always made client security a top priority. We do our best, not only to build a platform safe for your communities but also to defend your private data. We believe data privacy is of the utmost importance and for this reason, we are notifying clients and experts of an attempted data breach. We want to state very clearly and emphatically that the breach was unsuccessful and no data was retrieved. However, as we have a specific policy for attempted access to restricted areas, we’ve had to take action to protect our data and enforce our policies.
Recently, we became aware of several attempts to access client and expert data via specific queries. We were able to block every attempt made and our investigation led us to the origination of the attempted breach. We took swift action to prevent any further attempts.
Our investigation has revealed that this attempted breach was originated by the third party expert SocialEngineAddOns and during the investigation and recovery period, we temporarily suspended their account until Nov. 3. In our discussions with their parent company, BigStep Technologies, they also tracked down from where the issue originated and have taken action on their end to prevent any further attempts. We are happy to say we have been able to work together to resolve this.
We opted for a temporary suspension over the termination because they conducted their own investigation and had no knowledge their developer had attempted a breach, they had never attempted such action before, and they’ve made assurances it will never happen again. Also, because no data was retrieved and all attempts were unsuccessful, there have been no damages to our clients, experts or our company.
For clients who purchased SocialEngineAddOn products from our store, please contact SocialEngineAddOns directly at their website for plugin downloads until the suspension is lifted. Please feel free to contact our support if you are unable to show proof of purchase and we’ll do whatever we can from our end to get you the info.
We would like to end this message by thanking each and every SocialEngine client and the third-party experts who work tirelessly and in an ethical manner to provide top notch software which truly makes this ecosystem great. We look forward to continuing to grow the platform and the ecosystem with your help!
Respectfully,
The SocialEngine Team
