Snowflake

Profile narrative

Snowflake Inc., also referred to simply as Snowflake, is a United States-based company that provides data cloud services to organisations seeking to store, manage, and analyse large volumes of structured and semi-structured data. Its core offerings centre on a cloud-based data platform that enables customers to consolidate data, run analytics, and share information across departments and with external partners. The company serves a broad customer base spanning multiple industries, working with enterprises that require scalable cloud storage and computing capabilities for their data workloads. Snowflake's platform operates across major public cloud providers, allowing customers to deploy workloads in the cloud environments of their choosing rather than relying on on-premises infrastructure.

Snowflake became prominently involved in a major cybersecurity incident in 2024, when attackers gained unauthorised access to cloud storage belonging to its customers, resulting in the theft of private information. The breach had significant downstream consequences, as data belonging to several high-profile Snowflake customers was exposed, including Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and AT&T. The incident drew considerable attention within the cybersecurity community because of the scale of the affected organisations and the nature of the data compromised. In connection with the 2024 Snowflake Inc. data breach, Connor Moucka pleaded guilty for his role in the attack, which involved accessing cloud storage accounts to steal customers' private information. The case has been documented in legal and industry reporting related to the broader Ticketmaster hacking matter.

The organisation's headquarters are located in the United States of America, situating it within the broader American cloud computing and enterprise software sector. Snowflake is recognised in the technology industry for its specialisation in cloud data warehousing and its data-sharing capabilities, which differentiate it from traditional database vendors. The 2024 incident highlighted the importance of security controls and credential management within cloud data platforms, particularly given that attackers targeted customer instances rather than core platform infrastructure. The breach underscored the interconnected nature of cloud service providers and their customers, as a compromise affecting a shared platform can propagate to numerous downstream organisations simultaneously. Reporting on the guilty plea has linked the incident to wider concerns about social engineering and credential theft as vectors for large-scale data exposure.

Incidents

1 incident linked to this organisation.