Non-GRM car forums have been h@xX0r3d

If you have an account on a VerticalScope forum, you should change your password ASAP. They run a bunch of car and tech forums, including VWVortex, The Truth About Cars, Pirate 4x4, Focus Fanatics, EvoXForums, and AutoGuide.

http://jalopnik.com/45-million-accounts-hacked-at-some-of-the-biggest-car-f-1782030203

For a full list of VS car forums, check this website:

http://www.verticalscope.com/automotive/site-list.html

For more technical details on the hack, check out this web site:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/hacker-steals-45-million-accounts-from-hundreds-of-verticalscope-car-tech-sports-forums/

GRM is NOT on VerticalScope, so no need to change your password here (though you should still change it periodically for security).

There's really no excuse to be using MD5 these days...heh I remember back when the advice was to upgrade from MD5 to SHA1!

That'd require me to remember my 15+ year old vwvortex password. I think I can recall my ttac one though

I had an account on VWVortex, but then I got better. I haven't posted there in over two years, and I doubt I ever will again.

In reply to slefain:

It went downhill once the MKIVs came out, so the end of last century.

Thanks for the heads up.

PS. Progressive Insurance now has an ad that is used for a captcha (you enter "Progressive Insurance" to reset your password)... jeebus.

I've sometimes thought VerticalScope's business model was to buy popular forums and suck the life out of them, but I never figured out where the sold the life they'd sucked out of the forums. Hopefully the hackers didn't steal any of that stockpile.

MadScientistMatt wrote: I never figured out where the sold the life they'd sucked out of the forums.

Lots of forums have been replaced with Facebook groups. So, Facebook?

Eight Kia forums - wow!

MCarp22 wrote:

MadScientistMatt wrote: I never figured out where the sold the life they'd sucked out of the forums.

Lots of forums have been replaced with Facebook groups. So, Facebook?

Yeah, I pretty much use Facebook groups exclusely when looking for Evo advice. It helps that one of the best Evo X tuning shops in the country (Kaizen) is local and active on one of the groups.

I will need to change my AlfaBB password. That's still the go-to forum for pre-hiatus Alfa Romeos in the States.

Dave wrote: Eight Kia forums - wow!

Seriously! Their list of forums is entertainment by itself! They have garbage for cars that aren't even out yet (Chrysler 100) and stuff for people that wouldn't give a flying monkey poo about (Acadia forums?!? Isn't that the car that they polled and 93% of owners didn't even know what it was called?). Also, ClubRoadster lololol

I may belong to a couple of those Volvo and Mazda forums, but I never login anymore. ClubRoadster is lame and the Volvo forums barely offer any tech info. What security risks might exist for me besides hackers knowing my email addresses?

In reply to johnnie:

Many people are dumb and use the same email account/username and password for everything they sign up for online, like banking sites and other important places.

If you are not that person, your danger is minimized.

i'm really sad that they got their meat hooks into impalassforum.com now it looks like E36 M3 just like the rest of them. team chevelle too

In reply to johnnie:

If you reuse that password anywhere else there's a chance someone could gain access. Like if you use that same email and password when logging into your bank, Facebook, etc.

Thanks for the heads up. I am a member of a few of the forums in that list and I do tend to use the same password on message boards and fun sites. Email/banks/anything important gets long unique passwords.

This isn't related at all, but has anyone else noticed to google searches for things that aren't VW's end up leading to VW Vortex a lot?

EDIT: Holy E36 M3 there's a Crosstour forum, I have to go investigate this.

Which is worse: Verticalscope or Internet Brands?

Some of these (based on the 2 I have a login for) have an automated password reset, so you don't actually have to login to reset the password, just put in your email address.

Also there appears to have been some account deletion over the years, for example I had accounts at driveaccord.net in 2004 when I had a 2004 Accord, and ElementOwnersClub from 2003 when I was thinking about buying an Element. Neither of those accounts still exist. Or, I guess, I used some email address that I can't remember.

Mazda787b wrote: Which is worse: Verticalscope or Internet Brands?

yes

It's part of the reason I hate when forums require complex passwords. I want my forum passwords easy and my valuable accounts difficult. When a forum requires a difficult passwords its hard to remember it, so it often becomes the default "difficult" password.

patgizz wrote:

Mazda787b wrote: Which is worse: Verticalscope or Internet Brands?

yes

My man.

PHeller wrote: It's part of the reason I hate when forums require complex passwords. I want my forum passwords easy and my valuable accounts difficult. When a forum requires a difficult passwords its hard to remember it, so it often becomes the default "difficult" password.

So what you're saying is all of your difficult accounts use the same difficult password? Excuse me while I hunt down your banking details.