Mark Zuckerberg's social media accounts have been hacked: Hackers have broken into
and defaced Mark Zuckerberg's social media accounts.
The attackers, supposedly
belonging to a group known as OurMine Team, broke into the Facebook CEO's
personal Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts (but not Facebook) and posted
messages gloating of their success.
OurMine
Team claimed that the hack was made possible by last month's vast dump of LinkedIn
member details. Usernames and passwords were obtained during a hack in 2012
and subsequently sold on the dark web.
While LinkedIn took steps
to invalidate the stolen credentials, it is possible that the hackers used
information shared across multiple services - such as Zuckerberg's email
address - to gain access to the accounts.
It is also possible that
Zuckerberg has committed the cardinal sin of re-using passwords across
different sites. This incredibly dangerous practice is one of the most
commonly-cited security flaws, and is frequently criticised by security
professionals.
Richard Parris, CEO of cyber
security firm Intercede, warned that this breach should be very troubling to
everyday users. "If Mr Social Media's accounts can be compromised, with
all of the knowledge and resources he and his team have available, we should
all be taking notice," he said.
He called for companies
like Facebook and Twitter to adopt more secure forms of security, such as
biometric or two-factor authentication.
"It's been
demonstrated time after time that the simple username and password combination
is a fundamentally flawed approach to internet security, but that is typically
all we are offered to protect our identity and our data."
"It is time the
organisations generating significant revenue from consumers stopped playing
fast and loose with security and adopted more sophisticated approaches. They
are available, they are easy to implement and they offer much higher levels of
security. All it takes is a willingness on behalf of services providers to
acknowledge that they have a duty of care to the consumers they serve."
Mark Zuckerberg's social media accounts have been hacked
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