Quora, the popular questions and answers website is the latest company to fall victim to a data breach.
They announced the breach in a statement on Monday:
“On Friday we discovered that some user data was compromised by a third party who gained unauthorized access to one of our systems.”
The account information involved in the breach included email addresses, names, encrypted passwords, and data imported from linked networks when authorized by users.
In their report of the leak, The Register rightly focused on the mention of “linked networks”. They pointed out that those who connected to Quora using an anonymous social media account could have issues.
“So it looks to The Register there’s a risk that someone using their real name on Quora, but not on Twitter, could be doxxed as part of this leak.”
There was also public and non-public content from user activity done on the site (questions, comments, upvotes, etc.). The breach in no way affected anonymous activity as the site doesn’t store anonymous accounts.
As their investigation continues, Quora is working on ways of improving security outside of notifying users. They are also logging users out and making them use a separate authentication method to log in.
The company is also offering users a way to learn more about what they can do. In their report, they include a link that takes you to an FAQ page that gives more information. The page answers questions about changing passwords, details on the breach and what steps they are taking to address it.
What you can do
When you entrust your information with any large corporations it is at risk of becoming collateral during a breach.
So what can you do outside of stopping your involvement with these services? For starters, you try being diligent about monitoring your information. One of the best ways to do this is by going straight to the source of where a lot of leaked information ends up, the Dark Web.
With ScoresMatter, you can scan the Dark Web and see if criminals are trading or selling your personal details. You can also learn what you can do if we do find your information on the Dark Web.
Protect the digital you at ScoresMatter today.