Hackers stole the personal information of more than 68 million Dropbox users in 2012.
The cloud storage platform is now requiring certain people to reset their passwords, according to an Aug. 26 Motherboard report.
“This is purely a preventive measure, and we’re sorry for the inconvenience,” Dropbox said in an email sent to affected users.
While the breach was already publicized around the time of the event, it was only recently made known how many email addresses and passwords were stolen. Motherboard recently acquired a number of files with email addresses and passwords for people who used the file hosting company. (RELATED: Everything Online Is Connected, Now There’s A Growing Need For Cyber Insurance)
Dropbox, which has more than 500 million users according to its website, first discovered the hack after engaging in customary cybersecurity work in 2012. It found that a cybercriminal was attempting to purvey the personal information — only emails and passwords were hacked.
“We proactively initiated this password update prompt for Dropbox users who meet certain criteria,” the company explained in an official blog post. Essentially, all users who created accounts prior to the middle of 2012 will be mandated to change their password if they have not already done so.
“This is not a new security incident, and there is no indication that Dropbox user accounts have been improperly accessed” said Patrick Heim, the head of trust and security at Dropbox, according to The Telegraph.
This is yet another occurrence of an online company getting hacked. Roughly 117 million LinkedIn users’ security credentials were put up for sale in May. And a hacker tried to sell approximately 427 million purloined MySpace passwords for $2,800 in the same month, according to Motherboard. (RELATED: Zuckerberg HACKED, Password Literally Consisted Of Two Letters)
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