This past Wednesday evening, November 4th, we learned that a hacker known for targeting websites and apps had posted a copy of a Mashable database to the internet. Based on our review, the database breach related to a feature that, in the past, had allowed readers to use their social media account sign-in (such as Facebook or Twitter) to make sharing content from Mashable easier. The types of data in the database included first and last names, general location (such as city or country), email addresses, gender, date of registration, IP addresses, links to social media profiles, expired OAuth tokens, and month and day of user birthdays (but not year).
As soon as we learned of the incident we began investigating, and we have temporarily disabled Mashable access to all affected accounts as a precaution.
It is important to note that Mashable does not require, nor store any financial data for its registered users. Additionally, based on our investigation to date, we have no reason to believe that any user password data was accessed.
As a reminder, here are some tips to help keep you safe:
Be careful of emails with links to unfamiliar sites. If you receive a suspicious email related to Mashable, please consider contacting us at [email protected] so that we can investigate further.
Don’t share your password, personal details or payment information with anyone you do not trust.
Confirm any communications whether by email or otherwise that appear suspicious or inconsistent with your normal and ordinary practices, by using another form of communication.
We appreciate your attention to this important topic and sincerely apologize for any concern or inconvenience this incident may cause. Protecting our users’ data is one of our highest priorities. We are working hard to investigate the issue and prevent it from happening again.
Users can always exercise their data subject access rights and make requests regarding their personal data at: https://dsar.mashable.com/. In the event of further questions, email [email protected] and we will respond as soon as possible.
Topics Cybersecurity
