Support The Moscow Times!

Security Company Says 20 Million Credentials Stolen From Russian Dating Website

Hackers can use stolen credentials to try and access bank accounts and e-mails.

Hackers have stolen the user names and e-mail addresses of 20 million members of a Russian dating website and offered the information for sale online, according to a Web security company.

Easy Solutions, the fraud-detection software-maker who unearthed the breach, did not identify the hacked website in its online statement, but the Bloomberg news agency said it was a St. Petersburg-based site called Topface.

Topface CEO Dmitry Filatov said the company had no proof of the breach but was investigating, the report said.

"The list [of web credentials stolen by the hackers] appears to be international in nature with hundreds of domains listed from all over the world," Daniel Ingevaldson, chief technology officer at Easy Solutions, said in his company's statement.

The largest chunks of web credentials used by people who logged in to the dating website are from Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail, Ingevaldson said.

Hackers will use stolen credentials to try and access bank accounts and e-mails by exploiting online users' tendency to select the same password for various websites, he added.

Fifty percent of the hacked credentials belonged to people based in Russia and 40 percent came from the European Union, Bloomberg reported.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysis and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more