TWO hugely popular PlayStation and Xbox forums have been hacked leaving 2.5 million accounts exposed, it has emerged.
XBOX360 ISO and PlayStation forum PSP ISO are believed to have been hacked back in 2015 but the gamers’ details only just leaked.
It remains unclear who is to blame for the huge attack but they appear to have happened around the same time in September 2015.
Along with email and IP addresses, passwords were also breached.
It’s likely that the account holders were using other online services and accounts with the same login details and should make sure they have changed their details.
Security expert Troy Hunt and founder of haveibeenpwned.com told: “Every time we see a data breach, the accounts are taken and usernames and passwords tested against other sites.
“Many times, people have reused their passwords and other accounts are consequently compromised.”
Both forums offered a way for gamers to share links to download free versions of games.
Downloading ISOs for Xbox and Playstation Portable consoles without the license could be a breach of copyright.
Having an ISO of a game you don’t own is illegal, and might be flagged up by your internet service provider.
But most free PSP game demos are legal to download.
More and more hack attacks that took place several years ago are only just coming to light.
Cyber crooks typically dump the data once they have made enough money of it and the data is picked up on the dark web.
Troy Hunt added: “There can be a long lead time between a breach and the data going public…”There are an untold number of breaches that have already occurred that we simply don’t know about yet”.
