What is Neopets, you ask? It is a virtual pet website that gives members the ability to “own, raise, and play games with their virtual pets.” According to BleepingComputer, Neopets has experienced a data breach which has exposed the data of up to 69 million Neopets users. That is not an issue when you own, raise and play games with a real pet!

BleepingComputer reports that a hacker “known as ‘TarTarX’ began selling the source code and database for the Neopets.com website for four bitcoins…” The hacker alleged that “sensitive personal information, including birth dates, countries, IP’s genders and names as well as almost 69M unique email addresses” had been stolen from Neopets’ website.

Neopets has confirmed the incident and is working with forensic investigators and law enforcement. Neopets suggests that users change their passwords and is updating its users about the incident on Twitter. However, it appears that changing your password may not be enough in this instance. This is a good reminder to be wary of downloading apps in the first place, checking the apps’ history of security incidents and deleting apps when they are no longer needed or being used [ view related post].

Photo of Linn Foster Freedman Linn Foster Freedman

Linn Freedman practices in data privacy and security law, cybersecurity, and complex litigation. She is a member of the Business Litigation Group and the Financial Services Cyber-Compliance Team, and chairs the firm’s Data Privacy and Security and Artificial Intelligence Teams. Linn focuses her…

Linn Freedman practices in data privacy and security law, cybersecurity, and complex litigation. She is a member of the Business Litigation Group and the Financial Services Cyber-Compliance Team, and chairs the firm’s Data Privacy and Security and Artificial Intelligence Teams. Linn focuses her practice on compliance with all state and federal privacy and security laws and regulations. She counsels a range of public and private clients from industries such as construction, education, health care, insurance, manufacturing, real estate, utilities and critical infrastructure, marine and charitable organizations, on state and federal data privacy and security investigations, as well as emergency data breach response and mitigation. Linn is an Adjunct Professor of the Practice of Cybersecurity at Brown University and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law.  Prior to joining the firm, Linn served as assistant attorney general and deputy chief of the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s Office for the State of Rhode Island. She earned her J.D. from Loyola University School of Law and her B.A., with honors, in American Studies from Newcomb College of Tulane University. She is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Read her full rc.com bio here.