Last night, I received an email from EyeEm about a “data security incident.” 22 million accounts have been compromised, exposing the users’ names, email addresses, and encrypted versions of passwords. However, EyeEm wasn’t the only victim of this data breach. It’s the same one that hit 500px, and it also affected 25 million users of Animoto.
EyeEm writes that they became aware of a data security incident only recently, despite the fact that it happened on 5 July 2018. In the email, it’s noted that the incident “did not affect any commercial or financial data, nor any of your payout information or photos.” EyeEm is investigating the matter, and this is how they explain what happened:
On Tuesday 12th of February 2019, our team became aware of a data security incident, which may have affected certain EyeEm users’ data. The potentially exposed data may have included your name, email address and an encrypted version of your password.
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Data affected does not include any payment or payout data.
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This incident has not affected your EyeEm photos.
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EyeEm does not store cleartext passwords anywhere. All passwords are salted and hashed, a form of encryption which means the password strings cannot simply be used to log into accounts.
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While we only learned about the incident earlier this week, the data incident seems to have happened around a year ago.
The Register writes that this data breach affected 16 websites, stealing 617 million online account details. Other than Animoto, EyeEm and 500px which many of us use, among the hacked websites are also Artsy (1 million users) and Fotolog (16 million users).
EyeEm writes that their team “has been working around the clock to investigate the incident and secure the security of EyeEm users’ accounts.” They say that they immediately disabled all passwords as a security precaution and started informing the community. Here’s what you should do:
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Do not reuse old passwords, and ensure you choose a strong, new password.
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Do not use the same passwords on multiple websites.
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Use Multi-Factor Authentication whenever possible
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Use a password management tool. Tools like that store your passwords securely, generate new ones, and warn you if you’ve chosen an insecure one.
So, if you use EyeEm, Animoto or any of the remaining hacked websites, go and change your password immediately. You can review EyeEm’s Privacy Policy here and contact their Support team or Data Privacy Protection Officer for more information.
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