It has been reported by Troy Hunt, the security researcher who provides the “Have I Been Pwned” free breach notification service, that 1.4 million passwords and personal information of customers of GateHub, a cryptocurrency wallet service provider, and 800,000 customers of EpicBot gaming bot provider RuneScape are for sale on the web.

According to Hunt,

People always ask me what hackers do when they are able to obtain our personal information, including our Social Security numbers. There are many things hackers use our information for, some of which include filing false tax returns in our name to obtain fraudulent tax refunds, opening up new credit card accounts and other credit

On February 27, 2017, news reports disclosed a major security breach involving Spiral Toys, the seller of the CloudPets brand of internet-connected stuffed animals. The Bluetooth-connected CloudPets toys allow users to exchange voice messages between the toys and applications on smartphones or tablets. An investigation by cybersecurity researcher Troy Hunt revealed that customer data for over 800,000 registered accounts, including over two million voice recordings, was stored in an unprotected database on the public internet. While the company has denied that any voice recordings were stolen, reports indicate that hackers accessed the open database and attempted to ransom the data.
Continue Reading Data Breach Involving CloudPets “Smart” Toys Raises Internet-of-Things Security Concerns