Ubuntu Forums suffered a massive data breach on Saturday said
Canonical,the company behind the Linux open-source based operating
system.
An announcement was posted on the main forum page confirming the breach and reassured users that their team were working to restore normal operations.
The post said “every user’s local username, password and email address” from their database was stolen. Users who share passwords across sites were advised to change them.
“Ubuntu One, Launchpad and other Ubuntu/Canonical services are not affected by the breach,” the open-source company stated.
It is estimated that 1.82 million people use the forum, with more than 1.96 million threads.
The site was defaced on Saturday afternoon according to social media reports. Hackers altered the main page to include an image of a Twitter handle “Sputn1k_“, which directs to an accunt with just five tweets and double-digit followers. The account did not follow any other user when the hack took place.
The image also pointed out a “shoutout” to the Twitter user @rootinabox, however the link pointed only to a website that appears not to be associated with the account holder.
There has been much criticism of this hack, with on user saying “You must feel proud defacing a site by volunteers. They dedicate time and effort to make a free distro. Worst kind of ‘hacker’.”
An announcement was posted on the main forum page confirming the breach and reassured users that their team were working to restore normal operations.
The post said “every user’s local username, password and email address” from their database was stolen. Users who share passwords across sites were advised to change them.
“Ubuntu One, Launchpad and other Ubuntu/Canonical services are not affected by the breach,” the open-source company stated.
It is estimated that 1.82 million people use the forum, with more than 1.96 million threads.
The site was defaced on Saturday afternoon according to social media reports. Hackers altered the main page to include an image of a Twitter handle “Sputn1k_“, which directs to an accunt with just five tweets and double-digit followers. The account did not follow any other user when the hack took place.
The image also pointed out a “shoutout” to the Twitter user @rootinabox, however the link pointed only to a website that appears not to be associated with the account holder.
There has been much criticism of this hack, with on user saying “You must feel proud defacing a site by volunteers. They dedicate time and effort to make a free distro. Worst kind of ‘hacker’.”
