twofactorauth.org

June 5, 2018

Researcher Finds Credentials for 92 Million Users of DNA Testing Firm MyHeritage

This post was originally published on this siteMyHeritage, an Israeli-based genealogy and DNA testing company, disclosed today that a security researcher found on the Internet a file containing the email addresses and hashed passwords of more than 92 million of its users. MyHeritage says it has no reason to believe other user data was compromised, and it is urging all users to change their passwords. It says sensitive customer DNA data is stored on IT systems that are separate from its user database, and that user passwords were “hashed” — or churned through a mathematical model designed to turn them […]
August 1, 2018

Reddit Breach Highlights Limits of SMS-Based Authentication

This post was originally published on this siteReddit.com today disclosed that a data breach exposed some internal data, as well as email addresses and passwords for some Reddit users. As Web site breaches go, this one doesn’t seem too severe. What’s interesting about the incident is that it showcases once again why relying on mobile text messages (SMS) for two-factor authentication (2FA) can lull companies and end users into a false sense of security. In a post to Reddit, the social news aggregation platform said it learned on June 19 that between June 14 and 18 an attacker compromised a […]
August 29, 2018

Instagram’s New Security Tools are a Welcome Step, But Not Enough

This post was originally published on this siteInstagram users should soon have more secure options for protecting their accounts against Internet bad guys.  On Tuesday, the Facebook-owned social network said it is in the process of rolling out support for third-party authentication apps. Unfortunately, this welcome new security offering does nothing to block Instagram account takeovers when thieves manage to hijack a target’s mobile phone number — an increasingly common crime. New two-factor authentication options Instagram says it is rolling out to users over the next few weeks. For years, security experts have warned that hackers are exploiting weak authentication […]
June 19, 2020

Turn on MFA Before Crooks Do It For You

This post was originally published on this siteHundreds of popular websites now offer some form of multi-factor authentication (MFA), which can help users safeguard access to accounts when their password is breached or stolen. But people who don’t take advantage of these added safeguards may find it far more difficult to regain access when their account gets hacked, because increasingly thieves will enable multi-factor options and tie the account to a device they control. Here’s the story of one such incident. As a career chief privacy officer for different organizations, Dennis Dayman has tried to instill in his twin boys […]