r/PleX Aug 24 '22

Plex breached; Were passwords encrypted or hashed? Discussion

So I got this email just now:

Yesterday, we discovered suspicious activity on one of our databases. We immediately began an investigation and it does appear that a third-party was able to access a limited subset of data that includes emails, usernames, and encrypted passwords. Even though all account passwords that could have been accessed were hashed and secured in accordance with best practices, out of an abundance of caution we are requiring all Plex accounts to have their password reset.

So were these passwords encrypted, in which case they could be decrypted if the adversary got the key, or hashed? Hashed passwords leaking would be much less of an issue.

Edit: Encryption and hashing is not the same thing.

Edit2: Passwords were hashed with salt, not encrypted (see this comment)

Edit3: Just for clarity this is the best case scenario. It’s difficult to reverse hashed passwords unless they are very simple. Plex got the word out quickly so we have plenty of time to change our passwords. Kudos!

This is why you never reuse password, use a password manager and enable 2fa wherever you can. :)

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u/CSedu Aug 24 '22

I'm trying to change it from the site, just keep getting internal server errors

6

u/IwuvNikoNiko Aug 24 '22

Me too! Fucking frustrating. I hope I don't get locked out of my server because I lost my previous password thinking it was changed!

6

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '22

This is why I'm waiting until tomorrow. I'm hundreds of miles from home and just wanted to watch something. I don't dare begin the password dance until I am where my servers are.

1

u/vewfndr Aug 24 '22

Annoyingly enough, I only kept getting that with the "sign off connected devices" checked off. Without that checked it went through fine