
Your pc, tablet, or smartphone may include a local encrypted file where others may save your credentials. Your credentials are securely stored in the cloud via web-based password managers.

This is where you should use password best practices, such as coming up with a lengthy passphrase free of personal information that can be guessed.Īlthough the majority of these programs have comparable configurations, they differ in how they safeguard credentials. During setup, you will be prompted to generate a strong master password. The majority of password managers function in a similar manner. In most cases, users must create and remember a single master passphrase. The database was probably used to launch credential stuffing attacks, in which lists of stolen passwords are matched against different websites that use the same password.Īlthough in that case the exposed data did not come from Spotify, the company reset the passwords on affected user accounts.Password managers help create, store, and retrieve passwords from an encrypted database. Last month security researchers found an unsecured database, likely operated by hackers, allegedly containing around 300,000 stolen user passwords. It’s the second time in as many months that the company has reset user passwords. Spotify has more than 320 million users, and 144 million subscribers. Spotify spokesperson Adam Grossberg confirmed that a “small subset” of Spotify users are affected, but did not provide a specific figure. “We have conducted an internal investigation and have contacted all of our business partners that may have had access to your account information to ensure that any personal information that may have been inadvertently disclosed to them has been deleted,” the letter read.

But like most data breach notices, Spotify did not say what the vulnerability was or how user account data became exposed. Spotify said the vulnerability existed as far back as April 9 but wasn’t discovered until November 12. In a data breach notification filed with the California attorney general’s office, the music streaming giant said the data exposed “may have included email address, your preferred display name, password, gender, and date of birth only to certain business partners of Spotify.” The company did not name the business partners, but added that Spotify “did not make this information publicly accessible.” Spotify said it has reset an undisclosed number of user passwords after blaming a software vulnerability in its systems for exposing private account information to its business partners.
