service used by over 150 million people, has disclosed that its
databases containing account information of certain users have been
hacked.
According to a public
note[1] published yesterday by
the company, unknown hackers managed to gain unauthorized access to
its systems for nearly 10 months—between June 2, 2018, and March
23, 2019, and then again on April 21-22, 2019.
The hackers then potentially downloaded database containing
Flipboard users’ real name, usernames, cryptographically (salted
hash) protected passwords and email addresses, including digital
tokens for users who linked their Flipboard account to a
third-party social media service.
According to a breach notification email sent out to affected users
and seen by The Hacker News, the company has now reset passwords
for all users as a precautionary measure, forcing users to create a
new strong password for their accounts.
“You can continue to use Flipboard on devices from which you are
already logged in. When you access your Flipboard account from a
new device or the next time you log into Flipboard after logging
out of your account, you will be asked to create a new password,”
the company said.
third-party account and still in the process of determining the
total number of affected users.
The company has also decided to replace or delete all digital
tokens, making them no longer valid and therefore cannot be
misused.
“We have not found any evidence the unauthorized person accessed
third-party account(s) connected to users’ Flipboard accounts. As a
precaution, we have replaced or deleted all digital tokens,” the
post read.
“If you connected your Flipboard account to a third-party account
to see its content, you may notice in some cases that you need to
reconnect it.”
“Notably, Flipboard does not collect from users, and this
incident did not involve, government-issued IDs (such as Social
Security numbers or driver’s license numbers), or payment card,
bank account, or other financial information.”
The company did not disclose the total number of users affected
by the breach but said next time when you log into your Flipboard
account you are required to update the password for your
account.
Also, if you are making use of the same username and password
combination as of Flipboard for any other online service, you are
recommended to change your password there as well.
The company has notified law enforcement about the incident and
is still investigating to know how hackers managed to gain access
to their systems in the first place or what vulnerabilities they
exploited.
References
- ^
public note
(about.flipboard.com)
Read more http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheHackersNews/~3/-KkesfMmGHM/flipboard-data-breach-hacking.html