Netflix and Facebook are urging users to change their passwords, reports a cybersecurity expert.
Brian Krebs published a blog post on June 6 via Krebs on Security saying that these companies are sending out password resets.
"We believe your Netflix account credentials may have been included in a recent release of email addresses and passwords from an older breach at another company," reads the message that Netflix sent to its users. "Just to be safe, we've reset your password as a precautionary measure."
Krebs says that the reason that these companies have started sending password resets to their users is that millions of data had been leaked in the previous MySpace, Tumblr and LinkedIn hacks.
While these three breaches are already years old, "the scope of intrusions ... only became apparent recently when the credentials were posted online at various sites and services."
As such, once you receive an email from Netflix, Facebook or other social media companies informing you about the password reset, do not panic. Make sure it is not a spam or a scam by checking if the email source is legitimate. Another rule of thumb: don't use the same password across all your online accounts.
In the meantime, for those who are not aware of recent security news that emerged on the Web in the past weeks, you should know that more than 427 million passwords of MySpace.com users have been leaked online.
These millions of MySpace emails and passwords have been put up for sale on the dark Web market The Real Deal, by a hacker named Peace.
Before that, Tech Times delved on a report that the same hacker also sold millions of LinkedIn accounts.
The hacker and LeakedSource, a renowned search engine specializing in leaked data, claimed that details were taken from a previous unreported hacking incident.
Earlier this month, reports also surfaced saying that some social media accounts of Facebook's boss Mark Zuckerberg were hacked.
The incident makes the CEO the recent celebrity whose Twitter account was compromised. Other celebrity Twitter hacks included Tenacious D, Kylie Jenner and Katy Perry.
The hacker named OurMine Team claimed responsibility for taking over the Pinterest and Twitter accounts of Zuckerberg.
OurMine Team also said that Zuckerberg used the password "dadada" in his hacked social media accounts.
According to Zuckerberg, he barely uses his Pinterest account and he hasn't used his Twitter for many years now.
