Do you use the “Question & Answer” site Quora?
If so, you should know that your account might well have been compromised.
Quora has just announced that hackers have gained access to their system and stolen the personal information of up to 100 million users.
The full extent of the damage is yet to be determined, but here’s a list of the types of info that are already known to have been compromised:
- Account information such as the user’s real name, email address, encrypted (hashed) password and data imported from linked networks when authorized by users.(Note: That last one is why I strongly recommend against linking your social media accounts together.)
- Public content and actions including questions and answers, comments and upvotes left on other users’ questions.
- Non-public content and actions including answer requests, downvotes and direct messages sent to and received from other Quora users.
As you can see, this data breach is extensive, and it could potentially be even worse after Quora’s security team finished its investigation.
Bottom line: If you have a Quora account I recommend that you change your password immediately.
Quora says the passwords were stolen in encrypted format, but I still recommend that you change yours just to err on the side of caution.
I also recommend that you change the passwords on any other online services that are linked to your Quora account in some way.
You should also change the passwords on any non-linked accounts that you use the same password for.
Bonus tip #1: Click here to read about several scams that are currently making the rounds.
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