Sunrun

Sunrun is a United States-based organization operating in the solar energy sector, specifically identified as a solar panel maker. Its core business involves providing solar energy products and services, though specific details on market scope or scale beyond its US headquarters are not elaborated in the provided source material. The company handles sensitive employee and customer data as part of its operations.

A significant cybersecurity incident occurred on January 20, 2017, involving a successful spear-phishing attack. A hacker impersonated Sunrun's CEO specifically to target the payroll department. This deception resulted in the unauthorized disclosure of employee W-2 tax forms. The compromised data included highly sensitive personal information belonging to a substantial portion of both current and former employees, such as Social Security numbers, salaries, and home addresses. Crucially, customer information was not breached in this event. Sunrun detected the security compromise within one hour of its occurrence. The company subsequently engaged relevant authorities regarding the breach and offered identity theft protection services to the affected employees. An internal review prompted revisions to security training protocols. However, an employee critique highlighted a key procedural failure: the lack of adequate verification processes for handling sensitive data requests, which enabled the scam. This incident mirrored similar payroll-focused attacks targeting other organizations during tax season.