Kickstarter, the online fundraising site, may have had a security breach. Kickstarter admits that hackers were able to get some of its customer data this past Wednesday, which means that changing your password for the site may not be such a bad idea.
According to Yancey Strickler, Kickstarter CEO, law enforcement officials contacted Kickstarter and told them that hackers had gained unauthorized access to some customers' data. While no credit card data of any kind was accessed by hackers, some information about customers was. Accessed information included usernames, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers and encrypted passwords. Actual passwords were not revealed, but it's possible for someone with enough computing power to guess and crack an encrypted password. Because of this, Kickstarter strongly recommends that you change your password.
In order to change your password, log on to your account at Kickstarter.com. Then look for the banner at the top of the page in order to create a new, secure password.
"We're incredibly sorry that this happened," wrote Strickler in an email. "We set a very high bar for how we serve our community, and this incident if frustrating and upsetting. We have since improved our security procedures and systems in numerous ways, and we will continue to do so in the weeks and months to come."
Fortunately, Kickstarter has stated that it did not find any unauthorized activity on any accounts, which may make users breathe a little easier. If you're concerned, though, you can email any questions, comments or concerns to accountsecurity@kickstarter.com.
