Facebook is warning some users to update their password and security questions after the recent Adobe hack. An estimated 2.9 million user names and passwords were stolen from Adobe’s databases early October along with the source code for certain Adobe products. Facebook has taken it upon themselves to cross-reference the compromised Adobe data with their own user names and passwords. The social network is alerting users found to be using the same password on both Facebook and Adobe.
There’s no information about how many Facebook users are receiving the above message but Facebook spokesman Jay Nancarrow said, “We actively look for situations where the accounts of people who use Facebook could be at risk – even if the threat is external to our service.”
Facebook isn’t the only company to cross-reference user names and passwords from the leaks. Diapers.com and Soap.com are both sending similar notices to their customers, advising them to change their passwords.
While companies like Facebook are cross-referencing the leaked data for good, you can be assured that hackers are cross-referencing Adobe’s data with data from other password breaches. This method allowed hackers to decrypt much of the leaked data gained from other similar attacks.
The best way to protect yourself from data breaches like this one are to use a password manager like 1Password or LastPass to create unique passwords for every site and service you use.
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Source: Krebs on Security
