Thousands of Adult Website Accounts Compromised 167
Keith writes "Tens of thousands — or maybe more — accounts to adult websites were recently declared compromised and apparently have been that way since some time in October 2007. The break occurred when the NATS software used to track and manage sales and affiliate revenues was accessed by an intruder. The miscreant apparently discovered a list of admin passwords residing on an unsecured office server at Too Much Media, which makes and maintains NATS installations for adult companies. It would appear that Too Much Media knew of the breach back in October, and rather than fixing the issue tried to bury it by threatening to sue anyone in the adult industry who talked about it." The article gives suggestions for anyone who opened an account at any adult website in the last several months.
If true, this isn't particularly surprising. (Score:3, Insightful)
In addition, it's porn. Individual end users cannot protest very much without either A: Admitting they pay for porn online or B: being the subject of askance glances and the occasional, "Methinks he doth protest too much." Some folks won't care, but the kind of people who actually have influence in the real world can't afford that kind of tarnish.
So, even if the worst happens and large amounts of private data are in nefarious hands, it'll all get dealt with quietly. The victims will sort it out in private with their banks, the webmasters will never speak of it, and the company itself probably won't feel much of a hit. If they really do have 90% market share, I doubt anyone else in the field is ready to just jump in and take over.
Re:If true, this isn't particularly surprising. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Trend? (Score:3, Insightful)
#1 - If you consider porn and sex filth, that's a problem in itself.
#2 - Making a blanket statement that the adult industry is reponsible for your spam is about as intelligent as blaming yourself for stock spam.
Re:If true, this isn't particularly surprising. (Score:3, Insightful)
What would be embarrassing would be getting caught PAYING for porn in 2007. Now that would be embarrassing.
(And yes, I'm quite sure my credit card information hasn't been compromised in this incident.)