This Thanksgiving,
when people were enjoying their turkey feast, Imgur, a popular image sharing
site found out their data was compromised in 2014. This breach
affected 1.7 million accounts which exposed email addresses and passwords.
Fortunately, it seems that personal information such as real name, addresses, and
phone numbers was not exposed. Imgur does not require private information for
account registration. The breach was reported by an industry expert, Troy Hunt,
from the website HaveIBeenPwned.com on Nov 23rd (Spring, 2017).The next day,
Imgur sent out an email to all users to change their password, and the organization was
applauded for its quick response to the situation.
If you have an account with Imgur, it’s important to log in to the website and change your password. The account could have been potentially compromised, and be used for malicious activity. Large image sharing sites such as Imgur can reach a broad audience. Compromised accounts could be used to spread propaganda or criminal mischiefs. Once the password is changed, the account will be secured. In 2014, passwords were stored using an old SHA-256 hashing algorithm which could be cracked by the MD5Decrypt service (Kovacs, 2017). Since then, Imgur has changed their hashing algorithm to a more secure bcrypt algorithm.
When creating an account
on websites, it is important to use strong passwords which makes it tougher
for brute force attacks. Take the time, and use passwords that are 8-12
characters with a mix of upper/lower case characters, numbers, and special
characters. It’s okay not to be able to remember the password. The secure password
can be stored in an encrypted password software. Thankfully, this data breach did
not disclose personal information.If you have an account with Imgur, it’s important to log in to the website and change your password. The account could have been potentially compromised, and be used for malicious activity. Large image sharing sites such as Imgur can reach a broad audience. Compromised accounts could be used to spread propaganda or criminal mischiefs. Once the password is changed, the account will be secured. In 2014, passwords were stored using an old SHA-256 hashing algorithm which could be cracked by the MD5Decrypt service (Kovacs, 2017). Since then, Imgur has changed their hashing algorithm to a more secure bcrypt algorithm.
References
Kovacs, E. (2017, Nov 27). Imgur Discloses 2014 Breach Affecting 1.7 Million Users. Retrieved from http://www.securityweek.com/imgur-discloses-2014-breach-affecting-17-million-users
Sehgal, R. (2017, Nov 24). Notice of Data Breach. Retrieved from https://blog.imgur.com/2017/11/24/notice-of-data-breach/
Spring, T. (2017, Nov 27). Imgur Confirms 2014 Breach of 1.7 Million User Accounts. Retrieved from https://threatpost.com/imgur-confirms-2014-breach-of-1-7-million-user-accounts/129006/
Sehgal, R. (2017, Nov 24). Notice of Data Breach. Retrieved from https://blog.imgur.com/2017/11/24/notice-of-data-breach/
Spring, T. (2017, Nov 27). Imgur Confirms 2014 Breach of 1.7 Million User Accounts. Retrieved from https://threatpost.com/imgur-confirms-2014-breach-of-1-7-million-user-accounts/129006/
