Flashback data breach: 40K accounts exposed
Severity: medium · Patch status: no-fix-needed · Since 2015-02-12
In February 2015, the Swedish forum known as Flashback had sensitive internal data on 40k members published via the tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet. The data was allegedly sold to them via Researchgruppen (The Research Group) who have a history of exposing otherwise anonymous users, primarily those who they believe participate in "troll like" behaviour. The compromised data includes social security numbers, home and email addresses. Exposed data: email addresses, government issued ids, physical addresses. The breach dates from Feb 11, 2015; Have I Been Pwned loaded it on Feb 12, 2015.
What to do
- If you had a Flashback account, change its password and the password of any other account that reused it.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication wherever it is offered.
- Check whether your addresses are in this breach at https://haveibeenpwned.com.
- Expect targeted phishing that quotes the leaked details; verify any unexpected contact out of band.
Sources
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