MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosi) - More than 200,000 accounts from the social network ‘Vkontakte’ have been blocked as users’ personal data has been leaked, vesti.ru reports.
“The social network’s administration acted preventively in order to ensure its users’ security and to protect accounts, linked to compromised e-mail addresses”, wrote Georgy Lobushkin, head of ‘Vkontakte’ public relations department, on his social network’s account.
The website administration blocked 226,000 users’ accounts, linked to specific Mail.Ru, Yandex and Gmail boxes. A few days earlier, security systems of the three mail providers were reported to have been compromised, with about 11 million logins and passwords stolen by hackers and released online.
Lobushkin also stressed the hacked accounts were the users’ own fault for not protecting their personal data well enough. Weak mailbox passwords and an absence of regular virus protection are the most common reasons leading to a hacking attack.
In order to protect personal data from unauthorized access, web security experts advise internet users of choosing passwords which are random and large in length, installing proper antivirus software and changing default passwords immediately after registration. They also note that using the same password on many internet sites raises the risk of an account being hacked.
