Neopets Data Breach Includes Personal Info Of Over 69 Million Accounts
Neopets, a Tamagotchi-like virtual pet website that launched in 1999, has fallen victim to a serious and massive data breach. The perpetrators claim to have live access to the game’s database and the personal information of over 69 million users who created accounts on the website.
According to Bleeping Computer (via PCGamer), the data is reportedly being sold on a popular hacking forum called Breached.co by one of the hackers who’s asking for four Bitcoin for a snapshot of the database. The hacker says that they’re open to hearing offers for the data and will accept other forms of cryptocurrency. They’re also offering live access to the actual database for an additional fee.
The claims that they have live and continued access to the database has apparently been validated by the hacking forum’s owner when he created a new account and was sent his data back. This means that unless Neopets’ developers can block the hackers, they’ll have full access to all information even if account users change their password.
“Neopets recently became aware that customer data may have been stolen,” warns the devs. “We immediately launched an investigation assisted by a leading forensics firm. We are also engaging law enforcement and enhancing the protections for our systems and our user data.”
“It appears that email addresses and passwords used to access Neopets accounts may have been affected. We strongly recommend that you change your Neopets password. If you use the same password on other websites, we recommend that you also change those passwords,” they added.
Or, you can also permanently delete your account through this link, which is probably your best course of action.
Neopets recently became aware that customer data may have been stolen. We immediately launched an investigation assisted by a leading forensics firm. We are also engaging law enforcement and enhancing the protections for our systems and our user data. (1/3)
— neopets (@Neopets) July 21, 2022