Rumor: Renren Suffers Data Breach
Oriental Morning Post, 12/23/11
Passwords for 4.76 mln accounts with Chinese SNS site Renren have reportedly been leaked online. In response to the news, Renren has notified users said to be affected with instructions on how to change passwords.
Yesterday afternoon, Renren issued a statement through the company's official microblog account recommending that its users immediately change their password if the same password has been used in accounts with the Chinese Software Developer Network (CSDN.net) or other sites which have recently suffered leaks of user account information. Renren said yesterday that it can't confirm that information regarding its users has indeed been leaked, adding that the warning was issued only out of security considerations.
Chinese online security software developer Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) yesterday issued an alert that passwords and other information for more than 50 mln accounts on different sites are being circulated online.
Following this week's leak of a CSDN database containing user information, the site said that all affected users have been made to reauthenticate their accounts, and those for which passwords have not been changed since September 2010 have been frozen. In addition, CSDN accounts for which passwords have been leaked are currently inaccessible, however owners of those accounts can regain access using the site's password reset function.
Chinese matchmaking site Jiayuan (Nasdaq: DATE), previously named by industry sources as a target for a similar data breach, issued a statement yesterday saying that it has yet to receive indication that any information pertaining to its users has also been leaked.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see "Rumor: Online Community CSDN.net Suffers Data Breach," MD 12/22/11 issue.
Keywords: Chinese Software Developer Network Internet security SNS Renren Qihoo 360 QIHU Jiayuan.com DATE RENN online matchmaking
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