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CafePress Users Are Latest To Have Information Breached

By August 19, 2019May 16th, 2022Cybersecurity

Hardly a week goes by that we don’t see another major data breach making the headlines.

The latest company to fall victim to hackers is CafePress.

They are well-known on the internet for offering a platform where users can create their own customized coffee mugs, tee shirts and the like.

The company didn’t make a formal announcement about the breach, and users only became aware of it when they started getting notifications from Troy Hunt’s “Have I Been Pwned” service. Once word started leaking out, Hunt joined forces with security researcher Jim Scott, who had worked with Hunt in the past tracking down other data breaches.

Working together, they discovered a de-hashed CafePress database containing nearly half a million accounts was being sold on black hat forums.  The researchers could not confirm, however, if these records were related to the most recent breach, or some previous one.

In any case, as they probed more deeply, they discovered that the company was actually hacked back in February of this year (2019), and that it was a significant breach. That breach exposed more than 23 million user records.  Based on their findings, the hack exposed email addresses, names, passwords, phone numbers and physical locations.

To date, CafePress has not made a formal announcement about the matter, nor acknowledged the breach in any way. Although if you are a CafePress user, you will be forced to reset your password the next time you log on.

While that’s a good step, it’s completely at odds with the company’s clumsy handling of the issue.  Password resets are not breach disclosures and notifications, and shouldn’t be treated as such.  File this away as an example of how not to handle a breach if your company is hacked.

Jason Manteiga

Jason J. Manteiga, Vice President of Olmec Systems, has been part of the company for over the past 20 years. He believes that having a great work environment and supportive team, is the ultimate key to success. Since being in the IT realm for over 25 years, Jason, along with Olmec Systems, has been on the Inc. 5000 “List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” and Channel Futures MSP 501 “Top Managed Service Providers in North America,” along with other awards and nominations. Jason earned his Bachelor Degree in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds certifications in Microsoft MCSE, VMWare VCP, and Cisco CCNA. In his spare time, Jason is a contributor for The Center for Social & Legal Research (Privacy Exchange) and a member of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. His hobbies include cycling and kayaking. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters and son.