What happened in the Open Subtitles data breach?
Twingate Team
•
May 9, 2024
In August 2021, Open Subtitles, a popular subtitling website, experienced a data breach that led to a ransom demand. The incident exposed subscribers' personal information, and despite paying the ransom, the data was still leaked online. Open Subtitles has since implemented new security measures and required users to reset their passwords. However, those affected may still face potential privacy concerns and risks of account takeover attacks on other platforms if they used the same login credentials.
How many accounts were compromised?
The breach impacted data related to approximately 6.78 million individuals.
What data was leaked?
The data exposed in the breach included email addresses, geographic locations, IP addresses, passwords, and usernames of the affected users.
How was Open Subtitles hacked?
The hacker breached Open Subtitles' user data by exploiting a low-security password of a SuperAdmin and an unsecured script exclusive to SuperAdmins. This allowed the attacker to perform SQL injections and extract the data of nearly 7 million subscribers. The breach exposed email addresses, IP addresses, geographic locations, usernames, and unsalted MD5 hashed passwords, putting users at risk of privacy concerns and potential account takeover attacks on other platforms.
Open Subtitles's solution
In response to the hack, Open Subtitles implemented several enhanced security measures to protect its users and prevent future incidents. These measures included introducing new password policies, implementing IP address spoofing, deleting all unsalted MD5 hashed passwords, and mandating a password reset for all users. Additionally, the platform improved the way users connect to the site, locked accounts after multiple unsuccessful login attempts, removed session info from the table, implemented captchas and CSRF on forms, and adopted more secure password storage methods.
How do I know if I was affected?
Open Subtitles reached out to affected users following the breach. If you're an Open Subtitles user and haven't received a notification, you may visit Have I Been Pwned to check if your credentials were affected.
What should affected users do?
In general, affected users should:
Change Your Password: Immediately update your password on the affected platform. Make sure the new password is strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.
Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on the affected account. Consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
Monitor Your Accounts: Keep an eye on your accounts for any suspicious activity and report it immediately to the respective platform.
For more specific help and instructions related to the Open Subtitles data breach, please contact OpenSubtitles Support System directly.
Where can I go to learn more?
For more information on the Open Subtitles data breach, check out the following news articles:
Rapidly implement a modern Zero Trust network that is more secure and maintainable than VPNs.
What happened in the Open Subtitles data breach?
Twingate Team
•
May 9, 2024
In August 2021, Open Subtitles, a popular subtitling website, experienced a data breach that led to a ransom demand. The incident exposed subscribers' personal information, and despite paying the ransom, the data was still leaked online. Open Subtitles has since implemented new security measures and required users to reset their passwords. However, those affected may still face potential privacy concerns and risks of account takeover attacks on other platforms if they used the same login credentials.
How many accounts were compromised?
The breach impacted data related to approximately 6.78 million individuals.
What data was leaked?
The data exposed in the breach included email addresses, geographic locations, IP addresses, passwords, and usernames of the affected users.
How was Open Subtitles hacked?
The hacker breached Open Subtitles' user data by exploiting a low-security password of a SuperAdmin and an unsecured script exclusive to SuperAdmins. This allowed the attacker to perform SQL injections and extract the data of nearly 7 million subscribers. The breach exposed email addresses, IP addresses, geographic locations, usernames, and unsalted MD5 hashed passwords, putting users at risk of privacy concerns and potential account takeover attacks on other platforms.
Open Subtitles's solution
In response to the hack, Open Subtitles implemented several enhanced security measures to protect its users and prevent future incidents. These measures included introducing new password policies, implementing IP address spoofing, deleting all unsalted MD5 hashed passwords, and mandating a password reset for all users. Additionally, the platform improved the way users connect to the site, locked accounts after multiple unsuccessful login attempts, removed session info from the table, implemented captchas and CSRF on forms, and adopted more secure password storage methods.
How do I know if I was affected?
Open Subtitles reached out to affected users following the breach. If you're an Open Subtitles user and haven't received a notification, you may visit Have I Been Pwned to check if your credentials were affected.
What should affected users do?
In general, affected users should:
Change Your Password: Immediately update your password on the affected platform. Make sure the new password is strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.
Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on the affected account. Consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
Monitor Your Accounts: Keep an eye on your accounts for any suspicious activity and report it immediately to the respective platform.
For more specific help and instructions related to the Open Subtitles data breach, please contact OpenSubtitles Support System directly.
Where can I go to learn more?
For more information on the Open Subtitles data breach, check out the following news articles:
Rapidly implement a modern Zero Trust network that is more secure and maintainable than VPNs.
What happened in the Open Subtitles data breach?
Twingate Team
•
May 9, 2024
In August 2021, Open Subtitles, a popular subtitling website, experienced a data breach that led to a ransom demand. The incident exposed subscribers' personal information, and despite paying the ransom, the data was still leaked online. Open Subtitles has since implemented new security measures and required users to reset their passwords. However, those affected may still face potential privacy concerns and risks of account takeover attacks on other platforms if they used the same login credentials.
How many accounts were compromised?
The breach impacted data related to approximately 6.78 million individuals.
What data was leaked?
The data exposed in the breach included email addresses, geographic locations, IP addresses, passwords, and usernames of the affected users.
How was Open Subtitles hacked?
The hacker breached Open Subtitles' user data by exploiting a low-security password of a SuperAdmin and an unsecured script exclusive to SuperAdmins. This allowed the attacker to perform SQL injections and extract the data of nearly 7 million subscribers. The breach exposed email addresses, IP addresses, geographic locations, usernames, and unsalted MD5 hashed passwords, putting users at risk of privacy concerns and potential account takeover attacks on other platforms.
Open Subtitles's solution
In response to the hack, Open Subtitles implemented several enhanced security measures to protect its users and prevent future incidents. These measures included introducing new password policies, implementing IP address spoofing, deleting all unsalted MD5 hashed passwords, and mandating a password reset for all users. Additionally, the platform improved the way users connect to the site, locked accounts after multiple unsuccessful login attempts, removed session info from the table, implemented captchas and CSRF on forms, and adopted more secure password storage methods.
How do I know if I was affected?
Open Subtitles reached out to affected users following the breach. If you're an Open Subtitles user and haven't received a notification, you may visit Have I Been Pwned to check if your credentials were affected.
What should affected users do?
In general, affected users should:
Change Your Password: Immediately update your password on the affected platform. Make sure the new password is strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.
Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on the affected account. Consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
Monitor Your Accounts: Keep an eye on your accounts for any suspicious activity and report it immediately to the respective platform.
For more specific help and instructions related to the Open Subtitles data breach, please contact OpenSubtitles Support System directly.
Where can I go to learn more?
For more information on the Open Subtitles data breach, check out the following news articles:
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