Bitly users urged to change passwords
If you are a Bitly user you should be aware Bitly has had a data compromise. On May 8th Bitly CEO Mark Josephson announced the breach in a blog post with minimal details stating, “We have reason to believe that Bitly account credentials have been compromised; specifically, users’ email addresses, encrypted passwords, API keys and OAuth tokens.”
What is Bitly?
Bitly is a URL shortening service. Even if you don’t have a Bitly account you have probably seen a Bitly URL especially when using social media due to the character limitations. With a Bitly account you can enter a long website address and Bitly will return a shortened address that will redirect to the website when clicked. Bitly can also be used as a marketing tool for organizations wanting to track how many clicks their webpages are generating. To make sharing easier Bitly offers the ability to log in using a Facebook or Twitter login.
What should I do if I have a Bitly account?
If you have a Bitly account log in and change your password. Remember to use a unique password that has not been used for other accounts. If you use the feature of Bitly which allows you to log in using a social media account you will want to change those passwords as well. Although Bitly cannot confirm if credentials have been illegally accessed it is still a best practice to change passwords once a data breach has been identified. Read the entire blog post and its updates here. It has detailed steps you should perform to change your account credentials.