MySpace hack: Millions of stolen passwords and email addresses sold online

Hundreds of millions of stolen MySpace passwords have been put up for sale online, putting both current and former members of the once-mighty social network at risk of hacking.

360 million passwords and email addresses, believed to have been stolen several years ago, have been listed on a hidden internet marketplace on the dark web.

Time Inc., which now owns MySpace, confirmed the security breach, which hit the company some time before a re-design of the site in June 2013.

MySpace was the world’s most popular social network before being surpassed by Facebook in 2008, with 76 million logging on at its peak. Although many of these accounts are now dormant, the password leak potentially puts millions at risk.

MySpace has reset the passwords of any affected users, but many people are likely to use the same codes for other websites, such as online shopping or email. The email addresses could also be used for phishing attacks, which send out fraudulent messages to as many people as possible.