Myspace has revealed in an official announcement that it was the victim of a major data breach.
The incident took place a few years ago and is thought to have affected close to 360 million accounts.
Myspace’s technical security team confirmed that information that was being offered on an online forum is genuine.
The compromised data, which includes usernames, passwords and email addresses, was taken from its old platform. This was revamped in June, 2013.
Myspace, which is a Time Inc company, speculates that the cybercriminal behind this attack is an individual who goes by the moniker Peace.
This is the same person that is thought to be responsible for a similar incident at Tumblr, which bears all the hallmarks of the Myspace data breach.
The former social network giant has since invalidated all passwords belonging to accounts that were set up prior to 2013 and an investigation is underway.
“We take the security and privacy of customer data and information extremely seriously, especially in an age when malicious hackers are increasingly sophisticated and breaches across all industries have become all too common,” stated Jeff Bairstow, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Time Inc.
“Our information security and privacy teams are doing everything we can to support the Myspace team.”
Have I Been Pwned, which documents major data breaches, confirms the Myspace incident as the worst yet.
In second place is LinkedIn, which again is a historic incident, followed by Adobe.
Commenting on these recent revelations, the website’s founder, Troy Hunt, said: “There's been some catalyst that has brought these breaches to light and to see them all fit this mould and appear in such a short period of time, I can't help but wonder if they're perhaps related.”
