Employee accounts of Google, Samsung, and Apple along with other tech firms have apparently had their accounts hacked.
This information comes from the Khronos website. Supposedly the hackers hacked into a forum that was often used by the developers for things such as game development. Others that are allegedly victims of the hack include Toshiba, Sony Ericsson, IBM, EA, Intel, Panasonic and VMWare.
More companies may have had employee accounts stolen as well.
Number of hacked accounts unclear
An SQL file provided by Motherboard contained nearly 3,000 allegedly breached accounts which contained usernames, sign up IP addresses and dates, email addresses, passwords, and occasionally a physical address.
No one is sure just how many people are affected though.
Motherboard did alert Khronos to the breach; but, as of yet, the website has neither confirmed nor denied the breach.
Email addresses and usernames have been tested and were found to match accounts on the website. This included an account belonging to a renowned security researcher who confirmed that the details such as password and sign-up date were accurate.
Password reuse
This breach further goes on to highlight the dangers of password reuse.
Social media companies like Myspace and LinkedIn have fallen victim to data hacks in the last few years, and we all saw first-hand how hackers can exploit reused passwords.
Although the normal lay person may reuse the same password, most developers know better. Having a unique password for every site you use defends against hackers using your information to gain access to any of your other online accounts where more damage – or more serious damage – can be done.
Making strong passwords can help protect people from having their online accounts hacked as well. If you want to know how to make your password stronger and more secure, we have done a previous post about protecting yourself online, which includes how to make your passwords stronger.
Source: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/google-apple-samsung-employee-accounts-exposed-developer-forum-data-breach-1574617