Plex, a major provider of media streaming services, has confirmed a cyberattack in which attackers stole password data and emails from at least half of its 30 million customers.
In the email to customers, they were asked to reset their passwords. Step-by-step instructions were also provided, and the company advised customers to sign out of all connected devices after changing their passwords and then log back in.
The company gave further details of the attack and said that the database accessed did not contain payment card data, so they were not affected by the breach.
Plex said the passwords stolen by the attackers were “hashed and secured in accordance with best practices.”
This means that the stolen passwords were cryptographically arranged in such a way that would require attackers to expend additional resources to crack the hashes and restore them to their plaintext state.
According to a Plex spokesman, the passwords were hashed using bcrypt, one of the strongest password protection algorithms.
To make password cracking more difficult, bcrypt automatically applies cryptographic salting and peppering.
The sources for this piece include an article in ArsTechnica.