Urgent: Change Your MySpace Password Amidst Large-Scale Cyber Breach

A vital alert has been issued in relation to your MySpace account, should you still possess one. You might be left scratching your head, wondering, “What’s MySpace?” or “Why is this relevant now?” For those who aren’t familiar with it, MySpace, was the precursor to our contemporary social networking giant, Facebook. It held the limelight, prior to Facebook storming the stage and stealing the show. The reason we’re discussing MySpace at present is due to concerns that if you held a registered account on the site before 2013 and have since left it inactive, there’s a chance that your private information may now be in the possession of cybercriminals.

The company issued a statement on Tuesday in a blog post, divulging that email addresses, MySpace usernames, and passwords for accounts created before June 11, 2013, on the old MySpace platform have potentially been breached. From existing reports, it seems either the company was oblivious to this alarming reality, or it chose to quietly manage the situation without causing widespread panic. A post on Motherboard indicates that the compromised database held approximately 360 million accounts with an astonishing 427 million passwords. This should silence the critics who downplayed the significance and impact of MySpace in its heyday.

In a proactive move to safeguard users, MySpace invalidated user passwords for all potentially affected accounts created before June 11, 2013, within their old platform. Returning users will be prompted to authenticate their account and to reset their passwords. Instructions for this can be found here.

This echoes the recent fate of Tumblr, which fell victim to hackers who exposed nearly 65 million passwords, and LinkedIn, which experienced a security breach in 2012 compromising possibly 100 million accounts.

For now, it’s imperative that you log into your MySpace account and change your password promptly. This precaution should not be limited to just MySpace, but also extended to all your social media accounts. The website Have I Been Pwned might serve as a useful starting point to check if any of your other accounts have been compromised in various cyber breaches. Stay informed, stay safe.