Millions of music lovers and users of Gaana.com in India faced a different kind of terror attack after they found that their personal details were left exposed by a hacker from Pakistan.
The hacker, called Mak Man, has revealed on social media that he had got access to the user database of the popular music streaming Website, owned by Times Internet.
The user data included e-mail addresses, detailed social media profile and other personal details along with hashed passwords. This left several users to come on social media such as Twitter and Facebook seeking clarifications about the safety of their database.
Times Internet’s CEO Satyan Gajwani confirmed the Website’s database was hacked but also assured that most of the users’ data had not been compromised. “A couple of hours ago, a hacker name MakMan exposed a vulnerability in one of our Gaana user databases,” Gajwani said on Twitter. “Here's where things stand: First of all, we have patched the vulnerability within an hour of its discovery, as MakMan has also acknowledged. No financial or sensitive personal data beyond Gaana login credentials were accessed. No third party credentials were accessed either.”
“As we understand, the data has not been accessed or shared with anyone; MakMan was highlighting the issue, which we’ve recognised. Most of our users’ data has not been compromised, but we’ve reset all Gaana user passwords, so all users have to make new ones.”
Gaana.com, a music streaming Web site, competes with other players like Saavn.com and Dhingana.com.
Gajwani has also assured all the users on Twitter that the company has asked Makman if he’d be willing to work and help find if there are any other issues. “We are running diagnostics to find any other issues, but rest assured, we're taking every step to ensure all user info is secure and private,” he added.