In an announcement sure to bring attention to Kickstarter, the site responsible for helping aspiring creators acquire the funding they need to bring their creation to life, it was revealed last night on their official website that they were hacked.
It was brought to the website’s attention late last night after authorities picked up on the activity, after which the various technicians employed were able to get in and shut down the security breach. However, by the time the breach was closed it was too late.
In what was apparently the first of its kind, hackers broke into the site’s database, stealing user’s email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, and encrypted passwords in the process. The latter can be especially troubling for anyone with the slightest bit of computer savvy, as mentioned by their official website:
“Actual passwords were not revealed, however it is possible for a malicious person with enough computing power to guess and crack an encrypted password, particularly a weak or obvious one”, while recommending its users change their password to prevent their more sensitive data, such as credit card numbers from being stolen.
However, the website has assured its many users that there was access to credit card information was not granted during the breach, putting the minds of thousands, if not millions of backers at ease in the process. But is it too late for the funding giant? Will this prevent you from donating to a campaign’s cause in the future? Why or why not? Let us know in the comment section below, or start a discussion about the dangerous security breach on our new forums.
Let’s just hope that for now that this breach is the last of its kind, as the idealism presented in Kickstarter is something sorely missing from a world built around making money, and very often having anything to do with actually giving it.