CAPE TOWN – Question-and-answer website Quora announced that it has been hacked and data of up to 100 million users have been stolen.
Quora said it discovered last week that hackers broke into its systems and were able to make off with data such as a user’s name, email address, and an encrypted version of their password.
The company stated that If a user imported data from another social network, like their contacts or demographic information, that could have been taken too.
Other stolen data includes private actions on the site may have been taken such as requests for answers, downvotes, and direct messages.
Quora Chief Executive Adam D’Angelo wrote in a blog post: "We recently discovered that some user data was compromised as a result of unauthorized access to one of our systems by a malicious third party. We are working rapidly to investigate the situation further and take the appropriate steps to prevent such incidents in the future.
"We also want to be as transparent as possible without compromising our security systems or the steps we're taking, and in this post we’ll share what happened, what information was involved, what we're doing, and what you can do. We're very sorry for any concern or inconvenience this may cause."
D’Angelo stated that affected users would be emailed and that they are working with law enforcement and hired a digital forensics firm to do further investigation into the matter.
“The overwhelming majority of the content accessed was already public on Quora, but the compromise of account and other private information is serious. The company is also sending out emails to affected users," said D’Angelo.
D’Angelo promised users that Quora is trying to “contain the incident” and prevent another breach from happening.
“We are working rapidly to investigate the situation further and take the appropriate steps to prevent such incidents in the future.If you were affected, we will update you with relevant details via email."
Quora advised users that it is a best practice not to reuse the same password across multiple services, and recommend that people change their passwords if they are doing so.