Hack attacks made yet another victim, and this time it's Evernote - the Web-based note-taking app used by roughly 50 million people.
Attackers breached Evernote's systems and, according to the company, hackers accessed some user data. Evernote is requiring all users to reset their passwords, though it appears attackers did not steal any sensitive financial information and the breach did not affect any user content.
"In our security investigation, we have found no evidence that any of the content you store in Evernote was accessed, changed or lost," the company explains in a statement emailed to users and posted online. "We also have no evidence that any payment information for Evernote Premium or Evernote Business customers was accessed."
According to the company, the attackers did access usernames, email addresses associated with Evernote accounts, as well as encrypted passwords.
"The passwords stored by Evernote are protected by one-way encryption. (In technical terms, they are hashed and salted.)"
The security notice continues to walk users through the recommended password-reset process, giving them tips on how to create a strong, effective password. Evernote, however, is just the last in an increasingly longer list of hacked companies. Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter have all faced security breaches recently, not to mention the high-profile hackings at the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
Speculation suggested that the Chinese military was behind those high-profile hacks at the newspapers, while the hacks at Apple, Facebook and Twitter were attributed to Eastern European cybercriminals.
An Evernote representative told CNET that the security breach seems to follow the same pattern as the recent hacks on other Internet-based companies. The company's operations and security team reportedly believes the attack was more sophisticated, but they caught it in the early stages.
The representative further said that Evernote blocked any unauthorized access and emphasized that security is the company's top priority. Consequently, Evernote prompts all users to reset their account passwords before their next Evernote account log-in just to be on the safe side. Creating strong, new passwords will help keep users' accounts secure, adds the company.
As such security breaching is becoming increasingly common for Web-based companies and services, Evernote highlights that its operations and security team is doing its best to ensure the company is using the latest and strongest security protocol. The team "continuously and aggressively monitors for unusual activity patterns," explains Evernote, allowing the company to detect any attacks in the early stages.
© Copyright 2024 Mobile & Apps, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.