Alation Confirms Cyberattack After Customer Service Disruption

Enterprise data software company Alation has confirmed a cyberattack after previously reporting an incident that disrupted service for some customers.

Alation said it recently identified unauthorised activity involving one of its systems and has launched an investigation. The company has not disclosed how the attackers gained access, how many customers may be affected, or whether any data was stolen.

“Alation recently identified an isolated incident involving unauthorised activity in one of its systems,” the company said. “We are conducting a thorough investigation of what occurred, and we will provide additional information as appropriate.”

Customers experienced degraded availability

The confirmation follows an incident earlier in the week that caused service problems for some customers. According to Alation’s status page, the company reported degraded availability before resolving the issue within about an hour.

Alation has not said whether the same event directly caused the service disruption and the unauthorised activity, though the confirmation of the cyberattack came shortly afterwards.

The company also has not publicly provided specific defensive steps for customers to take following the incident. It remains unclear whether affected organisations have received additional information privately.

Alation handles data for large enterprises.

Alation develops data intelligence and catalogue software that enables companies to search, organise, and work with large volumes of enterprise information. Its products increasingly incorporate AI capabilities that help customers turn complex or unstructured data into usable information.

The company says it serves more than 500 organisations worldwide, including roughly half of the Fortune 1000. Much of its cloud infrastructure is hosted through Amazon Web Services.

Because Alation’s products are used to organise and access corporate data, the scope of the incident will be important for customers. For now, however, there is no public confirmation that customer information was accessed or exfiltrated.

The attack comes amid a wider series of cybersecurity incidents targeting technology and enterprise service providers that hold sensitive information for corporate customers. Alation said its investigation is continuing and that it will release additional details when appropriate.