Everything about oBike’s Data Breach You Should Know


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 I am sure we have all seen a growing number of shared bicycles around Singapore.

 

Image: Little Day Out
Image: The New Paper

They are basically everywhere.

So far, there are a total of 4 players on our shores as of now – ofo, oBike, MoBike and SG Bike.

The bikes are scattered all over the island, and comes in handy whenever we feel like hopping on and going for a ride.

Although some selfish people tend to abuse the bikes by throwing them anywhere they please (facepalm).

As such, some bike-sharing firms do require users’ personal information to ensure responsible usage.

Recently, oBike suffered a global security breach that caused user’s data to be leaked online.

Apart from those in Singapore, users in Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain and Malaysia were affected as well.

Information such as names, contact numbers and email addresses can be accessed online.

These data were neither encrypted nor protected, according to a report by BR24.

Security experts in Taiwan have already reported the vulnerability of the security system in June, but nothing was done.

Hmm…

When asked about the breach, an oBike spokesperson said that they were “made aware of the issue and worked quickly to resolve it immediately”.

oBike claimed that it was caused by “a gap in our API (application programming interface) that allowed users to refer a friend to our platform”.

According to The Straits Times, oBike has since “fixed the loophole by disabling the API and created additional security layers”.


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On the bright side, only a “small handful” of users are affected. Information such as credit card details and passwords are also kept safe as they are not stored on the app.

Wah heng ah…

oBike is now stepping up their game to ensure that history does not repeat itself.

In the meantime, Michael Smith from Akamai Technologies suggested people to store their password using the LastPass app.

He also advised against using the same password for different purposes.


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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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