NordVPN Denies Alleged Salesforce Server Leak, Provides Proof of Security
Published
Key Takeaways
- NordVPN breach clarification: NordVPN investigation shows no internal Salesforce servers compromised; leaked files came from third-party test environment.
- Security team findings: Initial forensic analysis confirmed zero impact on production systems or customer data; full internal systems secure.
- Incident context explained: Temporary PoC test environment used six months ago; vendor not selected, no sensitive data involved.
A recent cyber threat intelligence post claimed that a threat actor known as “1011” had accessed NordVPN’s internal development server and leaked sensitive data, including source code and authentication credentials. The claim circulated on social media and dark web monitoring channels, raising concerns among the cybersecurity community.
In order to understand this and to verify the claims of Salesforce server leak, we reached out to NordVPN for their analysis. And NordVPN has officially denied the allegations and clarified the situation in a detailed statement.
“Yesterday, on the 4th of January, we have identified a data dump on one of the breach forum websites, containing allegations made by a threat actor claiming to have accessed a "NordVPN Salesforce development server." We immediately started to verify these claims.”
The company’s security team conducted an initial forensic analysis and confirmed that there were no signs of compromise on NordVPN’s servers or production infrastructure.
“While we are continuing our investigation to ensure absolute certainty, we can confirm that, at this stage, there are no signs that NordVPN servers or internal production infrastructure have been compromised.”
NordVPN explained that the leaked data did not originate from its internal Salesforce environment or other services mentioned in the claim.
“The data in question does not originate from NordVPN’s internal Salesforce environment or any other services mentioned in the claim. Instead, our investigation identified that the leaked configuration files were related to a third-party platform, with which we briefly had a trial account.”
The post further clarified the context of the third-party environment: it was a temporary test environment created six months ago during a standard Proof of Concept (PoC) phase to evaluate a potential vendor. No real customer data, production source code, or active sensitive credentials were uploaded. The vendor was ultimately not selected, and the environment was never connected to NordVPN’s production systems.
The company concluded: “NordVPN systems remain fully secure. Your data is safe, and no action is required on your part.”
This incident serves as a reminder that threat actors sometimes misattribute breaches, and verifying claims with official sources is crucial. NordVPN’s swift investigation and transparent communication confirm that its internal systems remain secure, and no user data was affected.
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