Unsecured login information for a chat feature on YouPorn, one of the most popular pornography sites on the Internet, has revealed the email addresses and passwords for some of its users, the Associated Press reports.
While the AP could not confirm the number of accounts that had been compromised, Anders Nilsson of the security solutions company EuroSecure, wrote on his blog that login information for more than one million accounts was made public on Tuesday.
Kate Miller, a spokesperson for Manwin Holding SARL, YouPorn's parent company, emphasized in an email to The Huffington Post that YouPorn was not hacked, but that its third-party chat service "failed to take the appropriate precautions in securing its user data" and has since been taken offline pending an investigation.
"Until then, YouPorn continues to ensure that all appropriate measures and tools are in place to maintain the security of its infrastructure, and to safeguard the privacy of its users," Miller said in a statement to HuffPost.
She added in a phone call that "YouPorn is operating the way it should."
Still, many email addresses and associated passwords have now been made available online.
Sophos's Graham Cluley notes on the serendipitously named blog "Naked Security" that beyond the potential humiliation of having one's email address associated with YouPorn, the users' other accounts that share this login information could be compromised.
So, if your YouPorn password is now known, hackers might try that same password against your email address, your PayPal account, your Amazon account, and all many of other online resources.
Writing for Forbes, Kashmir Hill references a tag cloud created by Ashkan Soltani, an independent researcher and consultant who focuses on privacy and security, that shows some of the most popular passwords seen in a sample of the leaked data.
According to Nilsson, the leak was probably caused by a programming error that made a debugging log -- which collected usernames and passwords, among other data -- publicly viewable.
YouPorn is the 98th most popular site in the U.S. and the 96th most popular website in the world, according to Alexa.
Miller said that Luxembourg-based Manwin, which acquired YouPorn in May 2011, is the world's largest network of adult websites, with more than 60 million visitors to its sites each day.
Earlier this month, a person claiming to be a 17-year-old hacker in Morocco said he had accessed the personal information of users of a Brazzers-operated adult site, which Manwin also owns.
Company says YouPorn chat service compromised
1 million YouPorn users exposed; data breach required no security penetration
Company says YouPorn chat service compromised
Company says YouPorn chat service has been taken offline after user data was ...
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The Huffington Post | By Timothy Stenovec Posted: 02/22/12 07:12 PM ET | Updated: 02/23/12 06:44 PM ET