Common Password is Revealed in Massive Twitter Heist

Common Password is Revealed in Massive Twitter Heist

  • By Sydny Shepard
  • Jun 10, 2016

In a massive recent theft of Twitter usernames and passwords involving nearly 33 million customers, “123456” was by far the most commonly used password, according to security company LeakedSource.

More than 120,000 people whose credentials were hacked had used “123456” as their Twitter password, while others used passwords like “123456789,” “qwerty,” “password” and a host of those easily guessable passwords.

LeakedSource revealed Wednesday that a hacker stole 32,888,300 Twitter credentials. LeakedSource found the database on an online black market; the hacker was trying to sell it for 10 bitcoins, or about $6,000.

Twitter says they are “confident” their systems were not breached, leading professionals to believe that the hacker used malware installed on people’s computers to log the usernames and passwords and send them back to the hacker. Twitter said it is monitoring the list, and working with LeakedSource to security affected customers’ accounts.

Possibly as a result of the heist, several high profile celebrities and business’ Twitter accounts have been hacked recently. The NFL falsely tweeted out on Tueasday, June 7 that commissioned Roger Goodell had died. Katy Perry, Drake, Mark Zuckerburg and even Twitter co-founder Evan Williams were hacked.  

About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.

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