Notes

Hackers Profit from Millions Of Minecraft Passwords

Hackers take millions of Minecraft passwords



29 April 2016



Hackers have gained access to login data for more than seven million Minecraft users on the site Lifeboat.



Lifeboat lets players run servers that can be customized, multiplayer maps for the smartphone edition of Minecraft.



Evidence suggests that stolen data, including email addresses and passwords is being offered by sites that sell hacker files.



Research suggests that passwords were weakly protected so attackers could easily hack them.



Minimise damage



The information about the breach was shared with independent security expert Troy Hunt who said he obtained the list from a person who trades in stolen credentials. He was told by a variety of people that the data was being distributed on dark net websites.



Mr. Hunt said that the data was stolen at the beginning of 2016 but the breach has only now been discovered.



He claimed that passwords for Lifeboat accounts had been washed however the algorithm employed offered only a small amount of protection.



Hashing is a technique that encrypts passwords, making it difficult to read in the event that the password is lost.



Often, he said, it is the case that a Google search for a hashed password would instantly give the correct plain text value. He suggested that well-known cracking tools could automate the process and speed it up.



He said that "a significant portion of those passwords would have to be reverted into plain text in a short period of time" in an article on his blog about the breach.



This often lead to other security problems, he said, because the majority of people use passwords again, and finding out one can lead attackers to compromise accounts on different sites.



Motherboard was given a statement from Lifeboat stating that it had taken the necessary steps to reduce the damage.



"When this happened [in] early January, we decided that the best way to protect our players was to quietly make a password reset, without letting hackers know they had time to act," it told the news site adding that it is now using more secure hashing algorithms.



It said: "We have not received any reports of anyone being hurt by this."



Mr Hunt was dissatisfied with the company's decision to "quietly" forcing the password re-set saying this policy left him "speechless".



He suggested that Lifeboat could have done more to notify users to allow them to quickly change passwords if used on other websites.



"The first thing a company should think about after an incident like this is "How can we limit the harm to our customers?" He added.



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