Thousands of passwords leaked from website for parents of small children

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Police are investigating the hacking of user codes and passwords from the Terve.fi website. On Saturday night, the user codes and passwords of more than 70,000 users of the service were posted on the internet.
      The break-in was executed via the Helistin.fi message board, a service for parents of young children.
      News of the breach was first made public by the online version of the computer magazine MikroPC.
     
Police are treating the latest intrusion as part of a series of crimes involving several extensive data break-ins. A few weeks ago the user codes, e-mail addresses, and passwords of 12,000 customers of the Netcar.fi service were leaked and posted onto the internet.
      Also under investigation is a break-in in which the e-mail addresses and passwords of about half a million people were posted on the internet.
     
The web pages of Helistin.fi were shut down in the early hours of Monday. Darwin Media, which is responsible for the site, sent customers an e-mail urging them to change their password.
      Darwin Media CEO Mmika Nevalainen denies reports that the security options on the website had not been updated since 2002.
      “An update took place in 2007, and since then more updates have been made by our own personnel, but I have to admit that we were not successful.”
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finns urged to change online passwords after thousands leaked (14.11.2011)
  Data leak – Anonymous hackers disown claim of responsibility made in their name (8.11.2011)
  Personal information of 16,000 people put on internet in Finland´s largest ever data leak (7.11.2011)

See also:
  The password is the mirror of the soul - more´s the pity (22.11.2011)

Helsingin Sanomat