A screen shot of 'Minecraft - Pocket Edition' – Horses. (Photo : Twitter/ MCPE News)
Unidentified hackers have stolen login data of over seven million players who use the Lifeboat server service to play "Minecraft: Pocket Edition." Lifeboat allows "Minecraft" members to run servers for customized, multiplayer maps for "Minecraft" smartphone version.
While the site was hacked in 2015, information regarding the misdemeanor was revealed only recently. What is concerning for Lifeboat users is that there is enough evidence that the hacked information, which includes email addresses as well as passwords, is being offered on websites that deal in hacked data, BBC reported.
An investigation into the matter hinted that the passwords were protected very poorly making it easier for the hackers to steal them. According to independent security expert Troy Hunt, who was informed about the breach, he received the list from a person who deals in stolen data. He also claimed that many people told him that the stolen data was circulating on dark websites.
The security expert further said that while the passwords for Lifeboat accounts were hashed, the algorithm used were not protected properly. As a result, it is possible to revert many of the stolen passwords to plain text in a very short time, a blog post by Hunt explained.
Elucidating on the hashing is a technique; Hunt said that it is used to jumble passwords to make it difficult to read them in case the data is stolen or lost. According to him, usually a Google search for hashed password would almost instantly provide it in an accurate plain text. People who are familiar with cracking tools may possibly computerize as well as accelerate this process, he added.
While this usually causes other security issues, recently Lifeboat issued a statement to Motherboard claiming that they have initiated necessary actions to minimize the damages.
In the statement, published on the Motherboard website, Lifeboat claimed that when the incident happened in early January, they found that the best thing that their players could do is to reset their passwords not letting the hackers know that they have very less time to act. Lifeboat also claimed that henceforth they would be using tougher hashing algorithms
On the other hand, Hunt criticized Lifeboat's approach to the entire issue saying that the company ought to do much more. He advised that Lifeboat should alert the users to enable them to change the password quickly and ensure that the damages are minimized.
Watch the "Minecraft: Pocket Edition" trailer 2015 below:
