NASDAQ Site Hacked, Forum User Credentials Exposed

Tired of changing passwords yet? Well, if you're a member of the NASDAQ OMX Group forums, your wish is still pending. The forum, where users can discuss stock happenings throughout the day, has been revealed to have been exploited, with an unknown number of usernames and passwords at risk. NASDAQ's OMX Group has said that it's reset all user passwords, and if you're a member of that forum, you're likely to have received a related email already.

It hasn't been made clear whether or not user passwords were stored securely or not, and while it'd be easy to assume that they were, history has proven that not all companies take such things as seriously as they should. Hopefully more information regarding the breach will trickle out soon.

In a bout of sheer irony, the breach occurred on the same day a report was released revealing that half of the world's security exchanges have been targeted by cyber-attacks in the past year. Things are bound to only get worse, but likewise, things should only get better when it comes to having our data protected.

This event highlights once again the importance of using a different password for each service you use. With a password management plugin like LastPass, this is easily done. It's better to have to change just one password than many, when these sorts of things happen.