150 Million Users at Risk As Flipboard Announces Data Breach
The scale of the data breach is not known yet.
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News application Flipboard has been hacked. According to a recent announcement, the company has found out that “an unauthorised person has gained access to and potentially obtained copies of certain databases containing user information.”
Flipboard says that user information between 2 Jun 2018 and 23 March 2019, and between 21 and 22 April 2019 has been compromised in this recent breach.
WHAT INFORMATION HAS BEEN COMPROMISED?
The company has said that the database compromised ranges from the user’s name, Flipboard username, cryptographically protected passwords and email address.
The social media accounts linked to the news aggregator have not been affected. However, the database might have contained digital tokens used to connect Flipboard account to third-party accounts.
HOW MANY USERS AFFECTED?
The extent of the data breach is not known yet. Flipboard as said that its still in the process of determining the scale of the data breach or how many users were affected.
The app has a user base of more than 150 million monthly users.
WHAT HAS FLIPBOARD DONE?
The company has already replaced passwords of all of its users. Hence, people logging in again will be asked to create a new password. Nothing changes if the app is already logged in to devices - in such a case, its advisable to log out and log in again anyway.
Third party social media accounts will also need to be reconnected. Flipboard has replaced all the digital tokens that connect the app to one’s social media.
Apart from replacing the passwords and digital tokens, the company has also alerted the law enforcement.
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