Pastebin Is A Waste Bin Of Compromised Accounts

Hackers aren't giving up any time soon; just look at the torrent of data breaches within the past year. High-Tech Bridge decided to deduce how much user data is compromised in different cyberattacks around the world. In a recent study, the company closely analyzed Pastebin.com, a website anyone can use to share text online.

Hacker Happiness in Pastebin
High-Tech Bridge's study included the data only from last year, ignoring information leaks that affected less than 100 users, obvious fake hacks, and copies of data from previously reported leaks. The study revealed over 300,000 user credentials compromised, about 1,000 user credentials within each leak record, within the past twelve months.

Pastebin.com's simple online text storage services drew the attention of hackers who began to start using the site to store stolen information. The cybercriminals who use Pastebin.com don't actually store all the details of their attacks, but just want to show off that they actually hacked someone.

Some hackers use the website as a forum to sell the information they've stolen. Others post personal information of law enforcement agencies to prove they can compromise them. The majority of these information leaks on Pastebin are from insecure web applications and compromised devices teeming with Trojans.

A Treasure Trove of Info
Most of the compromised data was stolen from email systems; Gmail and Yahoo were the most popular domains to target users. Not surprisingly, Facebook was the number one social network for the stolen user credentials found on Pastebin. Approximately 92 percent of all compromised social network accounts are from Facebook alone. 

Several user accounts had passwords that were dangerously simple, like 'Hobbit2' or 'MyAppleTV.' Easy-to-crack passwords like these are prone to attacks and make encryption almost useless. Many users have the same password for several of their online accounts, making them much more vulnerable to cyberattacks.

If you don't want your information compromised, take a few steps to protect yourself online. Use a password manager, like our Editors' Choice LastPass 3.0, to generate and store difficult passwords. Install and update antivirus software on all your devices; one of our favorites is Editors' Choice Bitdefender Antivirus Plus (2014). Be smart about what you put online; don't share what you don't need to.