hacked passwords

'Jesus,' 'welcome' join list of worst passwords

Despite the vulnerability presented by weak passwords, many Internet users continue to put their security at risk by using common words or number sequences that are easily guessable.

Unchanged from last year, the three most popular passwords for 2012 were "password," "123456," and "12345678," according to SplashData's annual "25 Worst Passwords of the Year" list. The list was compiled from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers.

But that isn't to say that our choices have stagnated; new entries to the list this year include "welcome,&… Read more

Android forum site hacked; data swiped on 1 million users

Phandroid is urging members of its Android forums to change their passwords immediately after discovering that the server hosting the forum site was hacked this week, ZDNet reported today.

The data includes the user names, e-mail addresses, hashed passwords, and registration IP addresses of the forums' more than 1 million users. To change your password, go to UserCP, or use the "forgot your password?" page. As always, if you use the same e-mail address and password combination on other accounts, change those too.

A community manager for the site posted the news earlier this week, informing members that … Read more

LinkedIn hit with $5M lawsuit over lost passwords

An Illinois woman is leading the charge against LinkedIn in a $5 million class-action lawsuit that alleges the social network failed to protect its members' data.

The suit is a result of the recent security breach in which hackers stole thousands of passwords. The passwords ended up on a site accessible to the public.

Katie Szpyrka, a registered LinkedIn account holder since 2010, filed suit last week in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, claiming LinkedIn violated its own privacy policies and user agreements by not following industry, ZDNet reported today.

LinkedIn spokeswoman Erin O'… Read more

What to do if your LinkedIn password is hacked

Update, 1:23 p.m. PT: Updated with LinkedIn's confirmation.

News of millions of LinkedIn passwords leaked through a user on a Russian forum is scary enough. It's important not to let the situation get worse. Be proactive about protecting your other accounts, particularly if you have the same password for all your accounts.

If that's the case, it's time to change them, Jeremiah Grossman of WhiteHat Security said in an e-mail to CNET.

He offered a few tips, via a blog post on how not to get hacked on the Web.

"You wouldn't … Read more