Hacked Disney+ Accounts Are Being Sold Online
One week after its launch, hacked Disney+ accounts are what is being discussed rather than the new video streaming service. A week ago, Disney launched a highly anticipated video streaming service, and hackers have already found a way to make a buck while ruining your fun. The service, called Disney+, contains not only Disney film favorites but also original content and new shows in the Star Wars universe. Social media sites have been flooded with overjoyed responses from happy customers, as well as complaints from unhappy customers who have lost control over their accounts.
Hackers have been able to infiltrate accounts, change the passwords to lock out the account owners and then post the credentials online for others to use or buy. Rather than the $7-per-month subscription fee, some forums have listed accounts for sale for as little as three dollars from the hacked Disney+ accounts.
There are a couple of ways hackers may have pulled this off, most of which customers can avoid if they are careful.
First, anyone who ever reuses an old username and password combination from another site is playing with fire. If you reuse the login credentials from your MySpace, Yahoo, Adobe, Ancestry.com, Bank of America or Capital One account, a hacker with the right information can break in. Again, any previous data breach in which usernames and passwords were stolen means that information may be available on the Dark Web. If you open any new accounts with old information, a hacker may already have access to it, which may be the case for some of the hacked Disney+ accounts.
Next, if you receive an email or text message that someone has changed your account login for any account, do not ignore it or treat it as spam. It can mean that someone is in your account at that very moment, and they are locking you out.
Also, there is some speculation that hackers may have used keylogging software to steal credentials. This can happen when you visit a harmful website and login, click a link or download a file in an email that installs harmful software on your computer or connect over public Wi-Fi and log into an account. By electronically gathering up your keyboard strokes as you type, hackers can grab your login credentials, go into your account and take control.
Once they change your password, you are not only locked out of your account, you are also powerless to delete the account or block the payment method. You must contact customer support immediately if you are ever locked out of an account you own since a hacker may be involved.
Remember, the Disney+ website was not breached. It is the individual users themselves whose accounts have been compromised. Another handy tip to avoid hacks like the hacked Disney+ accounts is to stop announcing on social media whenever you download a new game, try out a new service or some other hot commodity. No one needs to know that you have paid for a subscription, and hackers are standing by (through basic keyword searches online) to see who has got an account they can grab. It is important to avoid oversharing your personal business in this way.
Finally, all of this serves as a great reminder about password hygiene. Apart from never reusing a password on another account, it is a good idea to change up your passwords frequently. The same is true of your security questions, as those are often targeted in a data breach as well. That database of old information the hackers have will not work if you are updating your passwords from time to time.
Contact the Identity Theft Resource Center for toll-free, no-cost assistance at 888.400.5530.
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