Spotify Database Attacked – Users Are Being Urged To Change Passwords

Over the last week or so we’ve been inundated with news stories regarding cyber attacks, where users personal data has been accessed in an unauthorised manner, the most significant of these being the eBay attack which was only announced two months after the attack happened. It seems though that not everyone is getting the message to ensure that their security barriers are in place as Spotify are urging some of their 40 million strong user base to change their passwords following an attack on their databases which was discovered last week.

In addition to changing their passwords, users of the Spotify app on Google’s Android platform are being asked to upgrade their app, where a new and updated version of the app is downloaded and installed separately to the existing installation, which is then to be deleted afterwards.

To date there is only evidence of a single user being affected – of whom has been contacted directly by Spotify to notify them, although they are keen to express that no payment or password information from this users account was compromised.

Spotify’s Chief Technology Officer, Oskar Stal spoke in a blog post about the attack “”We have taken steps to strengthen our security systems in general and help protect you and your data – and we will continue to do so. We will be taking further actions in the coming days to increase security for our users.”

With this being the third attack of similar nature to the eBay and Adobe attacks which have also been discovered recently, hopefully a number of other high-profile sites will get the idea that security is a serious issue and any flaws need to be discovered in-house and repaired before the attackers find them. Since the announcement of Sony’s PSN attacks last year, the security of user’s personal information across the internet has been in the spotlight and we are no asking not when, but who will be next?

Source: Sunday Morning Herald