Opera server gets hacked, 1.7 million accounts compromised

Opera has confirmed that intruders have gained access into company’s sync server, which stores users’ passwords and account information.

In a blog post, Opera explained how hackers managed to gain access into their server. The company claimed the breach was quickly handled; however, some user information may have got compromised.

“Earlier this week, we detected signs of an attack where access was gained to the Opera sync system. This attack was quickly blocked. Our investigations are ongoing, but we believe some data, including some of our sync users’ passwords and account information, such as login names, may have been compromised,” wrote Opera.

Of note, many third-party website are synced to browsers, which means by using Opera’s synchronisation server hackers can decode their passwords.

“Although we only store encrypted (for synchronized passwords) or hashed and salted (for authentication) passwords in this system, we have reset all the Opera sync account passwords as a precaution,” Opera wrote on its blog post.

Opera has already sent out emails to Opera sync users informing them about the breach and have asked users to reset their passwords.

“We have also sent emails to all Opera sync users to inform them about the incident and ask them to change the password for their Opera sync accounts. In an abundance of caution, we have encouraged users to also reset any passwords to third party sites they may have synchronized with the service,” added Opera.

According to Opera’s survey about 1.7 million people are active users of Opera Sync, less than 0.5 per cent of the total Opera user base of 350 million people.

In order to obtain new password for Opera Sync, user need to head to the password resetting page.