Streaming giant Plex urges users to reset passwords following a data breach

Media streaming giant Plex has urged users to reset their passwords after hackers gained access to authentication data of customers from one of its databases.

The American streaming platform wrote to customers this week, informing them about the data breach incident that involved hackers accessing their usernames, hashed passwords, email addresses and authentication data.

Plex said the unauthorised access to the compromised database was removed quickly, but warned that hackers could use the stolen information to gain access to customers’ streaming accounts.

The company has assured customers that it secured user passwords with hashing algorithm to ensure that third parties cannot read them, but has urged all customers to quickly reset their account passwords out of an abundance of caution.

 The company has also urged customers to set two-factor authentication to their accounts to prevent unauthorised access, while assuring them that their payment information was not stored in the compromised database.

The data breach follows a similar incident in August 2022 when hackers gained access to one of Plex’s databases that stored subscribers’ usernames, encrypted passwords and email addresses. The company quickly urged all customers to reset their account passwords, while assuring them that their payment information had not been compromised.