Pornhub, the most visited Internet pornography site has notified 200 million of its premium users that it had suffered a data breach in which personal data including email addresses, location, video titles and search keywords used by its premium users was compromised.  The hacking group Shiny Hunters is claiming it had accomplished the data breach and is already extorting individuals whose information was stolen.  Pornhub claims that the breach occurred through a third party analytics company, Mixpanel that Pornhub used to monitor site traffic although Mixpanel denies that it was the source of the data breach.  Since email addresses were among the stolen information, affected Pornhub customers should be suspicious of any emails they get related to this data breach.

TIPS

While Pornhub has indicated that passwords and credit card information were not stolen in this data breach, affected customers should take the following precautions.

Victims of the data breach should freeze their credit if they have not already done so.  Freezing your credit is actually something everyone should do.  It is free and easy to do.  In addition, it protects you from someone using your identity to obtain loans or make large purchases even if they have your Social Security number.  If you have not already done so, put a credit freeze on your credit reports at each of the major credit reporting agencies.  Here are links to each of them with instructions about how to get a credit freeze:

Everyone also should monitor their credit reports regularly for indications of identity theft.  The three major credit reporting agencies now provide free weekly access to your credit reports so you can monitor your credit reports easily on your own.  Here is the only link to use to get your free credit reports.https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action
Some scammers have websites that appear to offer “free” credit reports, but if you read the fine print, you often may find that you have signed up for unnecessary services.
Finally, be wary of anyone who calls you asking for personal information in regard to this data breaches as that is a favorite tactic of the hackers to lure you into providing personal information that can lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft.  Scammers often pose as the breached company and contact victims of the data breach to convince them to provide personal information.

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