In what is being called the biggest online security breach of all time, the usernames, email addresses and passwords of 425 million Myspace and Tumblr users have been hacked and are now available for sale online. The hacked data emerged for sale through a well-known hacker website and is available for purchase price of $4300. Both Myspace and Tumblr have confirmed that the user data was compromised as a result of security breaches several years ago.
These breaches are not isolated incidents. Just last month, LinkedIn confirmed a breach of 164 million accounts back in 2012, which was only revealed after the compromised data emerged for sale online. A hacker group that has stolen more than one billion passwords in the past few years is believed to be responsible for all three breaches.
In all three cases though, credit card or bank details were not stolen. The hackers were simply after email addresses and user passwords. With this information, hackers can attempt to access other websites and email accounts.
The lesson we all need to learn from these security breaches is that you just cannot trust anyone except yourself to keep your data secure. Take action at your end by ensuring that your email passwords are different to those used for any other website. It is also highly recommended that you take your security protocols one step further by using unique passwords for each different website you visit.
Find out if your email address has compromised at www.haveibeenpwned.com
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