If you have an account with the popular streaming service Plex, you should update your password right now. Run to your television or desktop and dispense with a new account credential immediately, lest a nefarious dark web cretin hack your account’s vital info.
Yesterday, the streamer announced to customers that it had “experienced a security incident that may potentially involve your Plex account information.”
“An unauthorized third party accessed a limited subset of customer data from one of our databases,” reads the breach notification. “While we quickly contained the incident, information that was accessed included emails, usernames, and securely hashed passwords.”
Plex claims that users’ passwords were securely hashed—meaning that its cryptographic protections should keep your codes hidden from any digital intruder—but, still, the streamer has asked users to “kindly” and “immediately” reset their passwords.
To reset your password, you can head to this particular url (https://plex.tv/reset) provided by Plex. If you need detailed step-by-step instructions on how to reset your password, the company also has a webpage for that. At the same time, Plex said that if you have used a single-sign on service to log into your account, you should log out of all of those sessions immediately.
What else should you do? The company is warning users to beware of phishing attempts, noting that “no one at Plex will ever reach out to you over email to ask for a password or credit card number for payments,” and also recommends that users activate two-factor authentication because, you know, 2FA is just a good practice all around.
Plex has made a name for itself over the years by providing a unique host of digital media services, including the ability to stream your own digital media library. It runs an ad-supported freemium streaming service with TV shows and movies, and also offers a subscription tier with a number of different benefits.
It’s unclear from Plex’s announcement how many accounts may have been compromised by the intrusion. The breach notification is vague on the details, stating the company believes “the actual impact of this incident is limited.” Gizmodo reached out to Plex for more information and will update this story when it responds.
