GoDaddy has identified a December 2022 malware incident on its hosting servers as part of a series of attacks on the company infrastructure since 2020. Credit: GoDaddy Web hosting and infrastructure provider GoDaddy said it suspects a recent attack on its infrastructure in December 2022 may be connected to a series of incidents the business has been experiencing since 2020.The attack involved an unauthorized third-party gaining access to and installing malware on GoDaddy’s cPanel hosting servers, the company disclosed in an SEC filing. The company only discovered the security breach following customer reports in early December 2022 that their sites were being used to redirect to random domains.“Based on our investigation, we believe these incidents are part of a multi-year campaign by a sophisticated threat actor group that, among other things, installed malware on our systems and obtained pieces of code related to some services within GoDaddy,” the filing added.None of these incidents or other cyberattacks has amounted to any material adverse impact to GoDaddy’s business or operations, the company said. Earlier attacks in the alleged chain In the SEC filing, GoDaddy also detailed a March 2020 attack where “a threat actor compromised the hosting login credentials of over 28,000 hosting customers to their hosting accounts as well as the login credentials of a small number of GoDaddy personnel.”However, the company said, none of the customers’ access to the main GoDaddy account was compromised. “We have spent resources investigating and responding to this activity, notified the impacted customers, reported the activity to applicable regulatory authorities, and are responding to requests for information regarding our data privacy and security practices,” the company said in the filing, adding that the filing indicating the timing of resolution and the outcome of the matter remained uncertain.Another attack in the chain included a November 2021 incident wherein an unauthorized third party used compromised credentials to access the provisioning system in GoDaddy’s code base for Managed WordPress (MWP). The attack affected up to 1.2 million active and inactive MWP customers across multiple GoDaddy brands.GoDaddy added that it reported the incident to applicable authorities and responded to user, partner and media inquiries, howbeit, with no certainty on the outcome and timing of resolution on the matter.The company expressed that such cybersecurity incidents could expose the brand to litigation and possible liability and subject it to regulatory or other government inquiries and investigations, attracting significant capital expenditure to remediate the breach.In other recent developments, GoDaddy laid off 8% of their employees citing ‘increasingly challenging macroeconomic conditions’ despite reporting a 7.2% year-on-year jump in revenue to a total of $4.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. Related content news UK government plans 2,500 new tech recruits by 2025 with focus on cybersecurity New apprenticeships and talent programmes will support recruitment for in-demand roles such as cybersecurity technologists and software developers By Michael Hill Sep 29, 2023 4 mins Education Industry Education Industry Education Industry news UK data regulator orders end to spreadsheet FOI requests after serious data breaches The Information Commissioner’s Office says alternative approaches should be used to publish freedom of information data to mitigate risks to personal information By Michael Hill Sep 29, 2023 3 mins Government Cybercrime Data and Information Security feature Cybersecurity startups to watch for in 2023 These startups are jumping in where most established security vendors have yet to go. By CSO Staff Sep 29, 2023 19 mins CSO and CISO Security news analysis Companies are already feeling the pressure from upcoming US SEC cyber rules New Securities and Exchange Commission cyber incident reporting rules don't kick in until December, but experts say they highlight the need for greater collaboration between CISOs and the C-suite By Cynthia Brumfield Sep 28, 2023 6 mins Regulation Data Breach Financial Services Industry Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe