back to article Hacker swipes details of 4m Pirate Bay users

The Pirate Bay has been compromised by an Argentinean hacker who made off with usernames, email and internet addresses of more than four million people signed up to the BitTorrent tracker site. KrebsOnSecurity.com reported yesterday that Ch Russo broke into TPB’s system and grabbed the info from the notorious website, which …

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  1. Kay Burley ate my hamster

    The vast majority

    The vast majority of TPB users aren't registered. So only the commentards then!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    do they

    do they even hold any user data? I thought it was an open website?

  3. Chris Miller
    FAIL

    "Closing some holes in the system are you, boys?"

    Clippety-clop, clippety-clop - hang on, is that stable door shut?

  4. Ian Ferguson
    Coffee/keyboard

    Ah, crap

    A 'friend' might have to change some of 'his' passwords...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not good

    I suspect there will be millions of unhappy TPB fans...

  6. Eddie Johnson
    Big Brother

    Stupid is as Stupid Does

    Why would you create an unnecessary account at a place of questionable legality? Just so you could leave a bolder and brighter trail for the RIAA/MPAA to track down? This is like kids wearing a pot leaf shirt to school and then wondering why they got busted. Darwinism rules.

    1. blackworx
      Welcome

      Exceptions

      There are exceptions to that rule. If you really want not to be stopped by the feds at a border try dressing up as a hippie and carrying a hookah. It's like they take one look at you, think to themselves "naaah!" and just leave you alone.

  7. Chris O'Shea
    Unhappy

    Registered users ...

    ... I *think* [1] that the main reason that people register, is so they can leave thanks and comments about torrents ... including the legal ones :-)

    Though I'm not sure you can get a list of the pr0n torrents without being signed in ... but I'm not sure ...

    [1] In general, I think people that leave comments here and elsewhere that are guessing at answers and what they think something *should* do, rather than what it does, are wasting everyone's valuable time and polluting the internet ... so consider this today's small bit of oil spill :-(

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      re : I'm not sure you can get a list

      As long as you know the URL, you can get the list up without signing up...

      (or you could last time I looked anyway)

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If he sold that lot to the MPAA

    it would keep them occupied for YEARS trying to prosecute 'em all

  9. Dick Emery
    FAIL

    Ha!

    Like I'd register with real info.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I didn't even register here with real info.

      So I can't see myself telling the freetards who I am.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Registered users?

    There are two types of registered users on TPB, same as there are two types of torrenter: seeds and peers (leeches). The former are those who put the torrents up there in the first place, provide initial seeds, get stuff out to people. Providers and suppliers. They need accounts in order to do so. The latter are the users that Chris O'Shea mentions, who want to leave comments on the torrents. The commentards probably don't mind if their details are lost (assuming they're not stupid enough to use the same details on all sites they use), but the seeders and uploaders are probably a bit miffed right now.

  11. jonathanb Silver badge

    Info not worth much

    How many people register with real details?

  12. James Woods

    .yada yada yada

    seems like it's by the book to say 'upgrading' when things are hacked. it's bad when things like this occur because often times we all register at sites, forget about the sites and a few years later the information is compromised.

    i've found it handy to use disposible phone numbers & email addresses. phones will usually cost a few bucks a month but using gmail is pretty good about keeping garbage out.

    i've not followed tpb all the way from both sides but I wonder if all the authority that was against tpb is now helping them to track down and punish the 'hacker'.

    sites up now.

  13. Chad H.
    Pirate

    Rather Brave

    Attacking a website full of finatical computer nerds with lots of time on their hands and no respect for the law.... One might even say "Suicidal".

  14. blackworx
    Heart

    Best. Subheading. Ever.

    It's like every ounce of Ms Morrisette's moment of songwriting incompetence has been transmogrified into a great big delicious cherry. How.... Very.

  15. mark?
    Thumb Down

    Hacker ?

    He is a script kiddie, not a hacker.

    He got access to a mod account and used the account to get more access. You could only exploit the system with mod+ access, so if people (mods) just start using good/better passwords, then this would never happened.

  16. Matthew 4
    FAIL

    hah

    what idiot would put their real name/main email address up there anyway?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Who uses real details online?

    Not me.

    Sincerely

    Adolf Zimmermann Flahtbender

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Does anyone still use TPB these days?

    I thought TPB had the Kazaa "kiss-of-death" about it. Last time I checked TPB, about 4 months ago, they had a DRM scanning thingy in place to block copyright infringing stuff.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Headmaster

    I'd love to see the RIAA....

    ...try to prosecute someone with data obtained very publicly from an illegal source.

    Should be a very short court case, even in 'merka!

    "Annnd... item 1 - INADMISSIBLE evidence. Case dismissed!"

    I Am Not A Laywer But Some Of Them Are Good Friends

  20. Alex Wells
    FAIL

    'It's like quite a few more than 10,000 spoons'

    This byline, is either a very sly alan-partridge style attempt to be ironic in the face of missing irony, whilst having a (slightly worn out) pop at an already rubbish popstar, which could if I was talking to you, be taken in the right way and possibly be on the mark and extraordinarily funny. Or it's rubbish.

    However online. it's possibly the most stupid byline i've ever seen. I expect more.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Poetic Justice

    There is no problem anyway as digital files are for sharing. Isn't that what TPB is all about? The hacker has a right to download usernames and addresses and not pay the price. He has not stolen anything because it is still there.

    This article is just funny beyond belief.

  22. Kubla Cant
    FAIL

    SQL injection?

    I'm astonished that there are still sites vulnerable to SQL injection.

    Who maintains the code? The local schoolkids?

  23. Graham Bartlett

    Couldn't happen to a more appropriate group of people

    You want free stuff? So does Joe Random Hacker - and he's using your credit card to buy it. How does it feel when someone steals from *you*...? Well now you know how the people whose stuff you're illegally downloading feel. Not the millionaires running record labels, or the dinosaurs of the rock industry like Oasis, or the 600lb gorillas of software like Microsoft, but folks who are just barely making a living off self-produced software or music.

  24. g00p
    Stop

    @Graham Bartlett shtop! this rant isn't ready yet!

    Not all torrents are "stolen goods" you know.

    And I think you'll find most people will actually generally fork out a bit of cash for those smaller creators who actually input some small amount of good into their industries.

    By buying mass produced vegetables from a supermarket chain like Tescos you're depriving honest farmers of a proper income.

    By buying a mis-shapen but wholesome tomato from your local market, you're putting something back into what you're taking.

    How many theiving scallies do you see stealing from the farmers market? Compared with how many you see stealing their daily supply of white lightening from Sainsburys.

    Btw, re some of the above posts, I think by registering with TPB you actually get a wider choice of torrents.

    Why anyone would use real details is beyond me, the sites blatantly insecure anyway, and it's not like they check your email address.

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