It’s a busy week for breaches. Earlier, Hyatt Hotels announced that it found malware on one of its systems that may have resulted in a data breach and now Livestream and the Hello Kitty online fan site have both been compromised.
Livestream has about 300,000 accounts. It is used for streaming all kinds of content such as videos and music. The company announced a possible breach resulting in access to some accounts. Names, addresses, passwords, birth dates, and phone numbers were included in the information possibly retrieved.
It is estimated that around 3.3 million users of various Hello Kitty online sites may have had information stolen as a result of that breach. Researcher, Chris Vickery said he found names, genders, birth dates, email address, country of origin, password hint questions and their corresponding answers, as well as other information had been leaked.
Users of Livestream or the Hello Kitty fan sites (including those who registered through a portal other than Sanriotown) should immediately change passwords and preferably user names for these sites. Remember not to reuse passwords that are used for other sites. Password reuse is common and hackers know it. So make sure each online account has different login credentials.
Create strong unique passwords for each site that combine upper and lower case letters, at least one number, at least one special character, and that they are not dictionary words. Mix up the order in which you place the special characters and numbers. The most common place is at the end, so be a rebel and switch it around.
What can be done with this information includes profile building and phishing. When email addresses and personal information are collected, they can be cross referenced to match with other stolen credentials. Then, it can be used for identity theft. That is why it is important to limit the amount of personal details that are posted on the internet, particularly on social media sites.
In addition, the more email addresses that are collected, the more targeted phishing that can take place. For example, if a cybercriminal knows you like Hello Kitty, they can use that to target phishing messages to you. You are more likely to click on a link if you are interested in the topic. This is a very effective way for thieves to take advantage of unsuspecting fans.
There is no evidence that any of the information has been used in nefarious ways, yet. However, it’s still better to change passwords and information as a precautionary measure. This is particularly important to protect the children that may have had their information retrieved.
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