Vietnamese tech giant VNG issued an apology recently for a data breach that affected 163 million gaming accounts.
It seems that April is ending with quite a bang for data leaks and breaches. Tech giant VNG has apologized after 163 million of its accounts were compromised in an alleged data breach. Reports seen by Freezenet do not clarify how the information was accessed. As such, it is unclear if it is an actual breach or a data leak.
What we do know is that the data contains e-mail addresses, passwords, dates of birth, phone numbers, IP addresses, and places of residence (city and country). Word of the breach became known after a user said he has possession of the database via a forum specializing in this type of data. The accounts are specifically tied to “Zing ID’s” which are accounts associated with ZNG’s gaming and music streaming services.
The breach itself apparently took place in 2015, however, specific details are now emerging including the size. In response, VNG is issuing an apology for the breach. From Tuoi Tre News:
In a press release on Friday, VNG did not directly confirm the data breach but admitted they had “been informed of a risk involving data leak of [more than] 160 million Zing IDs” back in 2015.
The tech company stressed that it had taken “timely technical measures” to prevent and contain such a breach.
VNG admitted that a number of accounts had been compromised nevertheless, but did not clarify on the exact number.
“The scale of the breach was limited, mostly involving game accounts without affecting other VNG services,” the press release reads.
“We are truly sorry and would like to offer our sincere apologies to our customers for the inconvenience,” a VNG representative said.
“We commit ourselves to protecting customers’ rights and online safety, and are resolved to address any issue related to the breach.”
The month of April started with a lot of activity on this front. On April 3rd, Saks and Lord & Taylor suffered from a data breach that saw 5 million credit cards exposed. Shortly after, on April 5, Panerabread suffered a data leak that saw 37 million accounts compromised.
On the 10th, Sears and Delta Airlines were hit with a breach that saw “hundreds of thousands” of customers exposed. Reports later surfaced that suggested that Best Buy and KMart were also impacted by the breach, but no firm numbers on how many that were impacted are known.
Another large data leak occurred on the 19th. LocalBox suffered a data leak that saw 48 million Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media accounts exposed.
This latest breach appears to show that April saved the biggest for last as this one easily eclipses the other breaches for the month. If you think you have been affected by any of the above leaks and breaches, it is recommended that you change your password and monitor your information if you haven’t already done so. If you re-use your password for anything else, it is recommended that you change your password for those services as well even though they may not be affected directly.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
