Users repeatedly using the same password makes matters worse The details of more than 400,000 user accounts have leaked onto the Internet in Sweden, following a series of attacks that have affected about 60 websites.The hacking scandal started to get attention on Tuesday, when a Twitter account belonging to Swedish politician William Petzll was used to publish passwords to email accounts belonging to some prominent journalists. Petzll, who is currently undergoing treatment for addiction, denied that he had anything to do with it, and said that his Twitter account had been hijacked. The account was subsequently closed.The source of the passwords turned out to be blogging site Bloggtoppen.se, which was vulnerable to an SQL injection attack. Its user database, which included details for approximately 94,000 accounts, was published back in September on a site called Flashback, and then distributed via Twitter, as well.The site has been closed until further notice, Bloggtoppen founder Jimmy Holmlund told Computer Sweden. He wasnt aware that an attack had taken place until the passwords were published via Petzlls Twitter account. On Wednesday, account details from another 57 sites were publicized, bringing the number of affected accounts to 180,000. As well as another 210,000 accounts from Gratisbio.se, which was hacked this summer, but the database with user names and passwords was made public on Tuesday evening, according to Computer Sweden.The intrusion is one of the largest to ever take place in Sweden, based on the number of accounts affected. In January 2008, virtual community Bilddagboken was also hacked. At that time, 235,000 accounts came in the wrong hands. Then, as now, the repercussions became bigger because users repeatedly used the same password, which made it very easy for attackers to break into, for example, email accounts using the leaked data, according to Computer Sweden.This article is based on reports from Linus Larsson and Marcus Jerrng of Computer Sweden, an IDG publication.Send news tips and comments to mikael_ricknas@idg.com Related content news Google Chrome zero-day jumps onto CISA's known vulnerability list A serious security flaw in Google Chrome, which was discovered under active exploitation in the wild, is a new addition to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency’s Known Exploited vulnerabilities catalog. By Jon Gold Oct 03, 2023 3 mins Zero-day vulnerability brandpost The advantages and risks of large language models in the cloud Understanding the pros and cons of LLMs in the cloud is a step closer to optimized efficiency—but be mindful of security concerns along the way. By Daniel Prizmant, Senior Principal Researcher at Palo Alto Networks Oct 03, 2023 5 mins Cloud Security news Arm patches bugs in Mali GPUs that affect Android phones and Chromebooks The vulnerability with active exploitations allows local non-privileged users to access freed-up memory for staging new attacks. By Shweta Sharma Oct 03, 2023 3 mins Android Security Vulnerabilities news UK businesses face tightening cybersecurity budgets as incidents spike More than a quarter of UK organisations think their cybersecurity budget is inadequate to protect them from growing threats. By Michael Hill Oct 03, 2023 3 mins CSO and CISO Risk Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe