BitDefender researcher revealed 75% of social media accounts shared identical login details to email
SYDNEY & AUCKLAND – August 4th, 2010 – BitDefender, an award-winning provider of internet security solutions, warns Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn users to pay close scrutiny to how they set up and secure their login details after a BitDefender researcher revealed more than 250,000 email addresses, user names and passwords that were circulating freely online. Of those social media accounts, 75 percent shared identical login credentials as the corresponding email account.
“Using simple freeware scripts, it’s possible for almost anyone to extract and collect personal login details online,” expressed Sabina Datcu, threat analyst, BitDefender. “Particularly worrying is the huge volume of email and various social media accounts that we’ve discovered together with their passwords in places such as blogs, collaborative platforms such as Google® docs, wikis, forums and torrents.”
A cross-check conducted over a random sample of the 250,000 email addresses, usernames and passwords revealed that 87 percent were still current and could be accessed with the leaked credentials. The security implications are numerous: ranging from data theft, email and social networking account hijacking for spamming and malware dissemination purposes, to financial losses through fake credit card accounts opened by using stolen identities.
“The findings pose serious concerns to the way people set up and secure their email and social media accounts. Such an incredible amount of sensitive data is just several clicks away from hackers and malware writers, so choosing unique logins for each of your accounts is vital,” Datcu said.
“Change your passwords regularly and do not keep any record of them online. If you find it difficult to keep track of all your login details, invest in a secured USB key with hardware and software encryption to safely store your details in one place. Free, secured services such as KeePass are also another suitable alternative.”
More information can be found on www.malwarecity.com, a BitDefender initiative for the online security community and a free resource for those interested in their online safety.
(No private information from this study has been kept, disclosed or used against the persons that revealed it. All trademarks or product names contained herein are registered trademarks of their owner companies).