National Lottery hacked, which is what happens if you gamble with your passwords
If you use the same password on many websites, it could be you.
Around 26,500 National Lottery accounts have been hacked. The UK's Lottery organiser Camelot has revealed that hackers were able to match emails and passwords from other websites, but no money has been taken and the Lottery itself is unaffected.
Camelot revealed in a statement that "There has been no unauthorised access to core National Lottery systems or any of our databases, which would affect National Lottery draws or payment of prizes." The company also insisted that it does not hold players' full debit card or bank account details, and no money has been deposited or withdrawn from affected player accounts.
All of the affected players now have to change their passwords. The company admitted that there had been changes made to less than 50 accounts, which have been temporarily suspended.
It appears that the wrong'uns behind the attack secured emails and passwords elsewhere, and then were able to access accounts of people who used those same emails and passwords to log in to the National Lottery.
"Hackers are getting smarter," said Alex Cruz-Farmer of IT security firm NSfocus. Hackers are launching "persistent and systematic attacks, testing usernames and passwords across a full spectrum of victim websites. This is a great reminder to everyone to stay vigilant, and to try and avoid using the same passwords across multiple platforms and websites."
Stay safe by checking out this video on protecting your password, and follow our handy tips on staying secure.
