Neopets hacker steals 69 million accounts and offers them online for Bitcoin
By Rebecca Moon
A major data breach compromised 69 million Neopets accounts, with the hacker offering to sell all of the users’ info and accounts for four Bitcoins worth approximately
Neopets released an announcement on July 20 informing millions of users that their accounts may have been affected.
“Neopets recently became aware that customer data may have been stolen. We immediately launched an investigation assisted by a leading forensics firm. We are also engaging law enforcement and enhancing the protections for our systems and our user data,” the company stated on Twitter.
Neopets recommended that users immediately change the passwords of their accounts as well as those of other websites that may use the same password.
The hacker, known as “TarTarX,” is reportedly selling personal information – including email addresses, passwords, IP addresses and birthdays – on a hacking forum. TarTarX has offered to sell all users’ info and accounts for four Bitcoins which total to approximately $86,339. The hacker stated that they are “open to hear offers.”
“I’m also selling the full access to the database, so you can modify data, credits or in-game pets, attributes… EVERYTHING you want,” the hacker stated as per Bleeping Computer. “Price is 4BTC for all users info WITH PASSWORDS AND EMAIL. I’m open to hear offers.”
TarTarX also added that they have stolen approximately 460 megabytes of source code from the Neopets website.
Neopets is a single-player website that lets users create and care for virtual pets and purchase various virtual items. It was first launched in 1999 and is now owned by Chinese online and mobile gaming company NetDragon.
Featured Image via NEOPETS
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