Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter, Pinterest Hacked—LinkedIn Leak or Weak Password to Blame?

Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter, Pinterest Hacked—LinkedIn Leak or Weak Password to Blame?
Petr Svab
6/6/2016
Updated:
10/5/2018

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had his Twitter and Pinterest accounts hacked on Sunday, June 5.

A post appeared on Zuckerberg’s Twitter account (@finkd) on Sunday reading “Hey, @finkd You were in LinkedIn Database with the password [omitted] ! DM (direct message) for proof,” according to tester and developer Ben Hall, who Tweeted a snapshot of the post.

Meanwhile Zuckerberg’s Pinterest account got defaced with a message reading “Hacked By OurMine Team.”

markpin001

OurMine hacker group claimed responsibility through its Twitter account, saying “we are just testing your security.”

Archived Twitter page of @_ourmine_. (Screenshot of Twitter)
Archived Twitter page of @_ourmine_. (Screenshot of Twitter)

An earlier Tweet of the group suggested it got hold of the email address Zuckerberg used to set up his Twitter (and possibly his Pinterest) account.

Archived Twitter page of @_ourmine_. (Screenshot of Twitter)
Archived Twitter page of @_ourmine_. (Screenshot of Twitter)

The group’s Twitter account has since been suspended.

Despite the group’s claim, Zuckerberg’s Instagram account hasn’t been affected, a Facebook spokesperson stated. Zuckerberg’s Facebook account also hasn’t been compromised.

“No Facebook systems or accounts were accessed. The affected accounts have been re-secured,” the spokesperson said in an email response.

OurMine’s post suggests Zuckerberg’s LinkedIn email and password were included in the massive data breach of over 100 million LinkedIn accounts. Emails and passwords associated with the accounts were offered for sale online last month.

On the other hand, OurMine also posted what it claimed was Zuckerberg’s LinkedIn (and possibly Twitter and Pinterest) password. Though Epoch Times decided not to state the password explicitly, we can reveal it would be considered extremely simple.

It is not clear if Zuckerberg’s accounts were hacked through the leak, through the weak password, both, or some other way.

Both Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were rarely used. The Pinterest account currently shows only 4 “Pins” and has about 13,000 followers. The Twitter account has over 400,000 followers, but the last Tweet is from 2012.

To mitigate risk of having your online accounts hacked, change your passwords regularly and don’t use the same password for multiple accounts.