Canada based online photography community ‘500px’ has disclosed on Wednesday that its users have to reset their passwords due to a data leak which took place last year. The online photographic firm says that hackers gained access to partial user data from July 5th last year and could have accessed sensitive info such as usernames, first & last name, DOB, addresses, gender, and their phone numbers.
The Toronto based firm released a press statement yesterday saying “if you are a 500px user on or prior to July 5th, 2018, you have been affected”. The firm is urging all its users to change their passwords and says that around 14.8 million users may have been affected in the incident.
A highly placed source said that the issue might have only affected those users who provided personal data while filling forms to create profiles.
500px which is owned by Visual China Group has started to contact each affected user via email from Tuesday and said that a 3rd party security firm has been pressed into service to investigate the cyber incident.
On February 13th, 2019, The Register claimed that a data dump of user data exposed from the databases of DataCamp and 500px is available for purchase on the dark web. A source from Twitter says that the stolen info is available for purchase for $1200 USD.
More details are awaited!
Note 1- DataCamp is an online resource which offers programming related material for learners.
Note 2- 500Px is basically a networking platform for photographers who can share their work, test their skills, and earn money through licensing and brand partnership opportunities. It offers direct connections between clients and photographers where the work can be credited with likes and scores.
