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It's Trivially Easy to Hack into Anybody's Myspace Account (vice.com)

If you are one of the almost half a billion people who at some point used to be on Myspace, the hottest social network of the early 2000s, you should know that almost anyone can hack into your account. From a report: Myspace offers a mechanism to recover an account for people who have lost access to their old associated email address. A security researcher has discovered that it's relatively easy to abuse this mechanism to hack into anyone's account. All a wannabe hacker needs is the target's full name, username, and date of birth. Security researcher Leigh-Anne Galloway disclosed the vulnerability on Monday. She says she informed Myspace about the vulnerability almost three months ago and the site hasn't acknowledged or fixed it.

68 comments

  1. MySpace? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That site still exists?

    1. Re:MySpace? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      <BLINK>That site still exists?</BLINK>

      FTFY.

    2. Re:MySpace? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sadly yes it still exists like all those leeching SM sites.

    3. Re:MySpace? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I moved on to Friendster long ago.

    4. Re:MySpace? by puddingebola · · Score: 1

      First my CompuServe and Prodigy accounts, now this.

    5. Re:MySpace? by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      No, which is why it's so easy to hack.

      I just hacked your myspace account and downloaded all the stuff you had on it.

      Now I just made 500 more myspace accounts than you had.

      Now I deleted them all.

      You can't stop me.

    6. Re:MySpace? by FilmedInNoir · · Score: 2

      I imagine no one responded because the one sysAdmin is now just a skeleton in a locked closet, hunched over a desk, killed when his CRT monitor blew up in his face.

      --
      Sig. Sig. Sputnik
    7. Re:MySpace? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Now I deleted them all.

      You can't stop me.

      Oh, we won't.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    8. Re:MySpace? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Yes, MySpace probably put holes on purpose, hoping hackers will place new content on it.

    9. Re:MySpace? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I moved on to Friendster long ago.

      Fail: Friendster predates MySpace.

  2. It's Trivially Easy to Hack into Anybody's Myspace by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    .... and .....?

  3. Will anyone notice? by myth24601 · · Score: 1

    What happens if someone hacks an account from a long lost social media site? Will anyone notice?

    --
    No matter where you go, there you are.
    1. Re:Will anyone notice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suppose that depends on whether the account is used as part of a multipronged cyber-attack, or perhaps a psychologically damaging practical joke of some kind.

    2. Re:Will anyone notice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is there does it make a sound?

  4. That's bad news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For all 3 people who still use myspace

    1. Re:That's bad news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even Tom left...

    2. Re:That's bad news by s.petry · · Score: 1

      That is 4 people if you count goatse you insensitive clod!

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  5. I'm confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who still uses Myspace? Clearly, the world has moved on to LiveJournal. -PCP

    1. Re:I'm confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not who uses...

      but rather why?

  6. Superchicken by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Pok pok pok, P'kok!"

    1. Re:Superchicken by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.

  7. Whoa! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just let me load up my 56K modem and I'll make a note to hack some profiles after I've finished hacking the Gibson.

    1. Re:Whoa! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK that's like the best comment ever.

    2. Re:Whoa! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is over 9000. -PCP

    3. Re:Whoa! by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      It is in fact over 65535. - MCP

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:Whoa! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shit. We're going to need more bits. -PCP

  8. Finally ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Finally somebody will be using my MySpace account again.

  9. Next Breaking story! by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The locomotives of Lake Chamberlain Logging and Paper Company, Maine have absolutely no security and they are sitting there in the jungle clearing for any one to come in ride away (after raising steam and laying the railroad)

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Next Breaking story! by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      I just made up some name for the paper company. Looks the correct name is Great Northern Paper. Is it the Bounty competitor Northern?

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    2. Re:Next Breaking story! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Myspace is hacked and Lenin screams in fear: http://englishrussia.com/2007/08/22/lenin-screams/2/

    3. Re:Next Breaking story! by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      Except that's sad. I feel bad for those poor old trains. They never did anything to hurt anyone like blast a stupid midi file on someone's browser.

    4. Re: Next Breaking story! by KGIII · · Score: 1

      GNP is defunct. They have been since before I retired and moved here. They made newsprint, as I recall.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  10. It's trivially easy to hack a slashdot account by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hacked msmash's account and posted this article.

    I also hacked Anonymous Cowards account and posted this post.

    It was trivially easy to do so!

  11. Not a big problem by Hentes · · Score: 1

    This might sound bad at first, but the username, full name and date of birth of most Myspace users only appear in a place where nobody sees them: on their Myspace page.

  12. Re:It's Trivially Easy to Hack into Anybody's Mysp by JackieBrown · · Score: 2

    Yeah - I doubt they even have enough data on anyone to ask for more information than the above. Short of questions like "What where you doing on Jan 12 2002". Heck, even that they might not have.

    From my memory of every time I visited someone's myspace page back in the day, it was 1) wait for site to load 2) mute the 4-10 songs that the myspace user set to autoplayed 3) wait for whatever 3rd party skin the myspace user decided to use loaded 4) hit the force close button because my browser just locked up.

  13. Huh? Are they new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Convince me why this might be better than GeoCities.

    1. Re:Huh? Are they new? by s.petry · · Score: 1

      Searching Prodigy for your answer, hang on a while...

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

  14. More users by dysmal · · Score: 1

    This is one way to get more users.

    In all seriousness, does anyone even remember which email address they used for their Myspace account?

    1. Re:More users by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      does anyone even remember which email address they used for their Myspace account?

      test@NewInternetThingy.com

  15. The same thing will happen with your Facebook page by cyn1c77 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    in 10 years. Keep that in mind as you post on it.

    What will Zuckerberg do with all that information when he is getting desperate?

  16. MySpace = Viant = SpecificMedia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just a recap for context.

    The Vanderhooks, who own SpecificMedia (bankrupted and renamed to Viant), bought MySpace to mine for contextual/behavioral advertising data. You can imagine migrating active user data from MySpace cookies into the sm cookie equivalent at login and a different set of inactive user data from one DB to another. Investment for the purchase came from various suckers, including Justin Timberlake. Timberlake had an unvisited office on the Viant uppermost floor. I am not aware of any current working relationship.

    After a short time, most of the technical staff was let go. The site was put in keep-the-lights-on mode and will never have such a change implemented by the limited staff and budget allocated to it's current maintenance state.

    1. Re:MySpace = Viant = SpecificMedia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The site was put in keep-the-lights-on mode and will never have such a change implemented by the limited staff and budget allocated to it's current maintenance state.

      Not that it would take more than an hour top to implement, for some semi-average web developer (hopefully with some understanding of security), with no prior knowledge of the code and publication procedure...

    2. Re:MySpace = Viant = SpecificMedia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Not that it would take more than an hour top to implement

      That's pretty naiive. The password recovery process isn't a single script running on a webserver. Who knows how the distributed architecture from 2000 was designed. I'm gonna bet "spaghetti". Then you have to update any docs, fields, services, in the templates (if you're lucky) and testing to deployment. An hour, is flat unrealistic. This isn't facebook, but an advertisting company who is letting one of their many disparate web properties slowly die.

  17. Shame by cloud.pt · · Score: 1

    I love the way that the ITsec industry is a shame-economy one. Improvement by mudding

  18. Arkeology by heson · · Score: 1

    This is good, the past is now preserved. Or is Myspace still used?

  19. Date of birth by PPH · · Score: 1

    You assume that I use my correct date of birth when signing up for accounts. In some cases, I don't even use my real name.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Date of birth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      omg, Sharon from accounting, you are a bitch

  20. And this is why I don't give out my DoB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This kind of stupidity is exactly why I don't give out any truthful information on any site. I make up fake birthday's and random answers to "security" questions.

    Fuck these idiot sites. My password is different for every single place, ever, and it's long and complicated. I don't need layers of bullshit on top of it.

  21. Good job I used fake info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well as usual when I sign up to stuff I always use a false name, false DOB use a unique email address and I never, ever, give out my phone number.

    So anyone trying to hack my MySpace account will not get far. Then again even if they do hack it they won't get much either. A few music files at the most.

  22. Hey Beavis... by zifn4b · · Score: 2

    Beavis: Yea?
    Butthead: He used his real date of birth on his MySpace account
    Beavis: What a dumbass, heh heh.
    Butthead: Heh heh heh heh heh heh. What's MySpace?

    --
    We'll make great pets
    1. Re:Hey Beavis... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And people keep asking me why my Birthday isn't right on Facebook.

    2. Re:Hey Beavis... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Beavis: Yea?

      Butthead: He used his real date of birth on his MySpace account

      Beavis: What a dumbass, heh heh.

      Butthead: Heh heh heh heh heh heh. What's MySpace?

      Birthday: It's your second password! : )

  23. Re:It's Trivially Easy to Hack into Anybody's Mysp by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

    I'm sure I used my college e-mail address. The one they shut down and deleted immediately after graduation because it would save precious megabytes of storage space on their servers.

    It likely would be much easier to "hack" than try to go through recovering it the normal way.

  24. Re:The same thing will happen with your Facebook p by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why, Sell it of course! Doesn't anybody READ the EULA these days?

  25. Biggest problem here might be for venues? by King_TJ · · Score: 1

    It's been forever since I looked at anything on MySpace... but as I recall? One of the last big pushes the site made to remain relevant was inviting entertainment-related businesses and individuals to use it as a one-stop place to find out schedules for stand-up comedy clubs, local musicians' tour dates and so forth.

    That, too, may be obsolete today ... but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of smaller clubs still have a presence there that somebody makes a marginal effort to update, just because they never put in the time or effort to change?

    1. Re:Biggest problem here might be for venues? by theurge14 · · Score: 1

      Pretty sure that's all been moved to Facebook a while ago.

  26. Leigh-Anne Galloway, I have a memo for you! by adosch · · Score: 1

    Security researcher Leigh-Anne Galloway disclosed the vulnerability on Monday. She says she informed Myspace about the vulnerability almost three months ago and the site hasn't acknowledged or fixed it.

    Leigh-Anne, you dear, needed to be informed 3 months ago that... MySpace isn't a thing anymore. Let's face it: The MySpace Guy just isn't that interesting enough anymore to want to know or hack-to-know.

    All jokes aside, though, there is still a pretty legit attack vector; the internet is still filled with complacent users. Chances are the same email, name and birth date lives as a user on any of the new-kid social media blocks, too. That's the valuable diamond-in-the-rough part to take away.

  27. Groovy man by istartedi · · Score: 1

    Groovy, man. Where are my bell bottoms? Oh no...I left them hanging on the line for 40 years, and somebody stole them.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  28. Joke's on you! by gweihir · · Score: 1

    I do not have a MySpace account! Try to hack that....

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:Joke's on you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I could fix that for you. -PCP

  29. Hacked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Both remaining MySpace users (and Tom) are aghast...

  30. And on that note.. It is also Trivially Easy by Arzaboa · · Score: 1

    It is also trivially easy to create a fake myspace account (or really any account) with someone else's credentials.

  31. Because... by Nexion · · Score: 1

    "...and the site hasn't acknowledged or fixed it."

    Nobody cares.

  32. Re:CompuServe and Prodigy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now with 40 hours free per month!
    I would miss Prodigy if i didn't remember how much it sucked. Nostalgia is deceptive.

  33. Not quite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the hottest social network of the early 2000s

    Myspace was founded in August 2003, so it didn't exist in the "early 2000s".

    1. Re: Not quite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because 2003 was the late 2000s? Or are you just trying to tell us you failed 2nd grade math?

  34. The hard part is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    finding somebody with a Myspace account

  35. Re:The same thing will happen with your Facebook p by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    What will Zuckerberg do with all that information when he is getting desperate?

    I'm trying to imagine what he would do that he's not already doing.