000hosting.com responsible for leaking 13-million passwords

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Genesis

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Came across this interesting article on 000webhost.com being hacked. Leaking 13-million passwords.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/10/28/000webhost-database-leak/

The part that is interesting is how it must have happened. The passwords had been stored in plain text! :mega_shock:

What is particularly interesting to me is that about three years ago I came across a hacker tutorial that recommended 000Webhost.com for an ideal host for creating those famous single hacker pages. Can't help but wonder how many hackers' have been hacked as well. :p
 

rrroberts

New member
A few days ago received an email from 000webhost.com saying they were breached.

I had an account on 000webhost.com for a few years, moved away from them over a year ago because Trend Micro Security kept flagging my few pages on 000webhost.com as dangerous and would not allow them to load (at the time, was using Zymic, 50Webs, and 000webhost.com).

What I am curious about, though probably coincidental and unrelated, "Anonymous" was making noise about hacking KKK member accounts and releasing their data, at about the same time as the 000webhost.com host.

Just goes to show what was true during WWII (Colossus vs. Enigma) is still true today, even with the best encryption you are going to get hacked, just a matter of horsepower, time, and maybe money. When you have no security, it is your own fault.
 

Tytoowns

New member
Genesis said:
Came across this interesting article on 000webhost.com being hacked. Leaking 13-million passwords.

:shock: Wow, i recently used 000webhost.com. I feel so glad that i used a throw away email with a randomly generated password
 

rapcanin

New member
:sorry: What, I am still hosting some of my sites on their free hosting, and I always had problems with them, and for to be worst, I am mostly always using the same passwords for everything, emails, hostings, bank accounts....
So may God help me :confused:
 

Yozora

Moderator
That's awful! Thanks for warning everyone Genesis! I haven't used 000webhost but they seem to be popular. Heard they were related to Hostinger somehow.
 

Genesis

Administrator
Staff member

Genesis

Administrator
Staff member
GigaGreg said:
I'm not surprised that they got hacked, they are low anyway.
Agreed. Can't believe that Forbes.com is making such a great deal out of them.
 

Snowflake

New member
I got an email for this.. I thought I didn't have an account with them anymore. The only time I remember having a site with them was like seven years or so ago. They should close inactive accounts if they haven't been used in a very long time. Like most hosts do.
 

Genesis

Administrator
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Haha .... I should check my emails too. I had an account with them very briefly for trying out about four years ago.
 

Stijn

New member
Genesis said:
GigaGreg said:
I'm not surprised that they got hacked, they are low anyway.
Agreed. Can't believe that Forbes.com is making such a great deal out of them.

Maybe it's not surprising they get hacked, but it's one of the biggest data breaches. I think that's why Forbes is making such a big deal out of them, and also because they are not reachable for contact. Over 13.5 million email adresses and passwords are leaked. Unbelievable that a hosting company doesn't even think about encryption... However it was something we could have expected, as they send you your password in plain-text in the confirmation mail as you register for a new account.
 

Genesis

Administrator
Staff member
You're right of course, 13.5 million e-mail addresses are quite a significant number. Enough to justify interest by Forbes. Was just thinking though that those must have been accumulated over years and years and probably never cleaned up. Could be the bulk of them are around the period 2007-2009 when free hosting was at its highest demand.
 

Snowflake

New member
Genesis said:
Haha .... I should check my emails too. I had an account with them very briefly for trying out about four years ago.

That account is probably still there. :lol: or I don't know, they must never remove people from their email lists or something...
 

Genesis

Administrator
Staff member
Reminds me I have to check through my yahoo and hotmail accounts whether I've received an e-mail from 000webhost.

Found it! This is the one e-mail account I haven't changed the password off since the beginning of time - 2008. Have changed it now. :p

000webhost.com <no-reply@000webhost.com>
Oct 31 at 12:18 AM

To

Hellsing

What happened?

A hacker used an exploit in an old PHP version, that we were using on our website, in order to gain access to our systems. Data that has been stolen includes usernames, passwords, email addresses, IP addresses and names.

Although the whole database has been compromised, we are mostly concerned about the leaked client information.
What did we do about it?

We have been aware of this issue since 27th of October and our team started to troubleshoot and resolve this issue the same day, immediately after becoming aware of this issue.

In an effort to protect our users we have temporarily blocked access to systems affected by this security flaw. We will re-enable access to the affected systems after an investigation and once all security issues have been resolved. Affected systems include our website and our members area. Additionally we have temporarily blocked FTP access, as FTP passwords have been stolen as well.

We reseted all users passwords in our systems and increased the level of encryption to prevent such issues in the future.

We are still working around the clock to identify and eliminate all security flaws. We will get back to providing the free service soon. We are also updating and patching our systems.
What do you need to do?

As all the passwords have been changed to random values, you now need to reset them when the service goes live again.
DO NOT USE YOUR PREVIOUS PASSWORD.
PLEASE ALSO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS IF YOU USED THE SAME PASSWORD FOR OTHER SERVICES.

We also recommend that you use Two Factor Authentication (TFA) and a different password for every service whenever possible. We can recommend the Authy authenticator app and the LastPass password manager.
We are sorry

At 000webhost we are committed to protect user information and our systems. We are sorry and sincerely apologize we didn't manage to live up to that.
At 000webhost our top priority remains the same - to provide free quality web hosting for everyone. The 000webhost community is a big family, exploring and using the possibilities of the internet together.
Our leadership team will closely monitor this issue and will do everything possible to earn your trust every day.

Sincerely,
000webhost CEO,
Arnas Stuopelis
 

Genesis

Administrator
Staff member
Right. I was wondering tonight whether this was a massive attempt at getting their hosting business promoted? Just think about it! If Forbes.com promoted it to the extent it did the traffic must be unbelievable?

Could be a bit paranoid perhaps. :unknown:
 

Yozora

Moderator
Wouldn't people want to stay far, far away from their hosting now though? I mean, leaving that many email addresses vulnerable to hackers doesn't exactly inspire much confidence in a hosting company. Gets me wondering if bad promotion actually brings in customers...I wouldn't think so, but I guess you never know with things like this.
 

Genesis

Administrator
Staff member
Don't they score with traffic though? At any rate, if they are serious to continue it may be a good thing. That Forbes.com contains many tips of how they can fix their hosting business to be up to date. :p
 
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