Tala Research Shows that European Telecommunication Websites Expose Sensitive Customer Data

In 7 EU countries, Tala assessed the websites of the leading MSPs for the European top mobile providers, data exposure is a major unacknowledged concern. Analysis of Europe’s leading mobile providers’ websites by Tala Security shows that critical information has been at risk of over-sharing and attack — with few appropriate security measures in place to discourage it. Tala Security’s recent study reveals that data exposure is a real concern for Europe’s leading mobile companies and by extension for more than 253 million customers who register up and share personal information. The main issue is the insecure website supply chains. 

For many valid reasons, European Telecommunication companies collect sensitive information as part of the digital sign-up procedure, including passport numbers, payment slips, and bank account details. The analysis by Tala shows that European Telco sites do not have enough protection against third-parties risk but also uncover them to other serious risks by using numerous third-party JavaScript integrations. Without command, all websites that have JavaScript code from each owner’s website including the supply chain vendor can alter, grab, or release information via JavaScript facilitated client-side attacks. The average JavaScript integration among Telecommunications companies was 162 in the group; this is a very high risk of over-sharing and data visibility. If website owners do not protect sensitive data when entered on their websites, they actually do not leave it suspended; the only reason why it is not stolen is that criminals did not use it. 

“In many cases, data sharing or exposure takes place via trusted, legitimate applications on the allow list —often without the website owner’s knowledge,” said Deepika Gajaria, VP of Products at Tala Security. 

Forms used to collect credentials, banking information, passport numbers, etc. are revealed to an average of 19 third parties at considerable risk through form data exposure. No responsive website protection was established on any of the sites. On a scale of 100 with a score of 50 at an average, the website average was only 4.5. 100 percent of the most widespread website attack that frequently led to a significant sensitive leakage in the data is cross-site scripting (XSS). 

“European Telco’s routinely collect sensitive data like passport scans, banking details, address, and employment information. When website owners fail to effectively secure data as it is entered into their websites, they’re effectively leaving it hanging, an accident waiting to happen,” said Gajaria.