Streaming service Plex compromised, hacker demands Bitcoin ransom for stolen passwords

'The forums machine was definitely compromised, likely via PHP/IPB vulnerability'

Plex, the popular streaming service used on smart TVs and mobile devices, has had its forums hacked by someone demanding a Bitcoin ransom.

The hacker, referred to as ‘Savaka’, has compromised the web servers that host the company’s forums, and obtained all of its users’ passwords in the process.

Savaka has demanded a ransom of 9.5 BTC to be paid by tomorrow in order to prevent the release of the data.

BTC is Bitcoin currency, and the total ransom amounts to around £1,570. If it is not paid by tomorrow, it will go up by 5 BTC.

‘Eventually if no BTC payment is made, the data will be released via multiple torrent networks and there will be no more Plex.tv,’ the hacker wrote.

All credit card data of Plex customers is stored with payments firm BrainTree, which is owned by eBay, so that remains out of Savaka’s grasp.

The forums are also on a separate machine than the Plex.tv cluster, but the hacker could use the stolen passwords to sign in to customers’ accounts on the streaming service to obtain more information.

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All of the passwords are ‘salted’ and ‘hashed’, which is a common layer of security that means plain-text versions are never written to the hard drive, but an accomplished hacker can still crack them.

Plex has recommended that all of its users change their passwords immediately.

“The forums machine was definitely compromised, likely via PHP/IPB vulnerability,” said Elan Feingold, co-founder of Plex. “We have no reason to believe that any other parts of our infrastructure was compromised, but we're investigating.

“He/she got the salted hashed forums passwords, which are used on Plex.tv as well (single sign-on). So if the hashes are reversed, they could sign into Plex.tv.

"Billing stuff is completely separate. Worst case – that we know of right now – is they reverse the hashes on forum passwords and use them to sign into Plex.tv. So please, change your Plex.tv password.”