VerticalScope’s mega hack

Hacking seems to be the latest fashion these days. Hacks affecting lakhs of people are now occurring with unprecedented regularity.

The latest hack is a breach of VerticalScope, which is responsible for more than 1,000 popular websites and forums, including AutoGuide.com, Motorcycle.com, and PBNation.com.

The breach has affected more than 1,100 websites with nearly 45 million user accounts stolen, according to LeakedSource, a website that tracks hacks and data dumps.

The passwords were encrypted, according to LeakedSource, "but less than 10 percent of the domains which account for a very small amount of leaked records used difficult to break encryption." As a result, LeakedSource - and potentially others - have been able to crack the passwords.

The data that has been hacked includes email addresses, encrypted passwords, usernames, and IP addresses. Hacks like these that expose people's passwords are dangerous because they can lead to further hacks and account takeovers elsewhere.

The main reason for such hacks is that people+ reuse passwords across multiple websites and platforms. This means that if one service they use is compromised, then hackers can cross-reference try and use the email address and passwords exposed in the breach on other platforms.

We've had a stark illustration of this recently following the publication of data taken in historic hacks on LinkedIn and MySpace. In both cases, tens of millions of users' account details were taken, and hackers have now been using these logins to hijack the Twitter accounts of celebrities and public figures. Everyone from Drake to Mark Zuckerberg has been affected.