Hack of Cupid Media dating site exposes 42 million plaintext passwords

Massive breach could trigger chain of account hijackings on other internet web sites.

A hack on niche online dating sites service Cupid Media previously this current year has exposed names, email addresses, and—most notably—plaintext passwords for 42 million reports, based on a posted report.

The cache of private information ended up being on the exact exact same servers that housed tens of an incredible number of documents taken in split cheats on internet sites Adobe that is including Newswire, additionally the National White Collar Crime Center, KrebsonSecurity journalist Brian Krebs reported Tuesday evening. The state with Southport, Australia-based Cupid Media told Krebs that individual qualifications appeared as if linked to “suspicious task” that has been detected in January. Officials thought that they had notified all affected users, however they are along the way of double-checking that most affected reports have experienced their passwords reset in light of Krebs’ breakthrough.

The compromise of 42 million passwords helps make the episode among the larger passcode breaches on record. Increasing the magnitude may be the revelation the info was at plaintext, as opposed to a cryptographically hashed format that will require a good investment of the time, ability, and power that is computing split. As Krebs noted:

The danger with this type of big breach is too many individuals reuse the exact same passwords at numerous internet internet web sites, meaning a compromise similar to this will give thieves immediate access to tens and thousands of e-mail inboxes as well as other delicate web sites associated with a person’s current email address.