Roku says 576,000 user accounts hacked after second security incident

Roku said it discovered malicious hackers compromised more than half a million user accounts while investigating an earlier spate of account hacks.
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Streaming giant Roku has confirmed a second security incident in as many months, with hackers this time able to compromise more than half a million Roku user accounts.

In a statement Friday, the company said about 576,000 user accounts were accessed using a technique known as credential stuffing, where malicious hackers use usernames and passwords stolen from other data breaches and reuse the logins on other sites.

Roku said in fewer than 400 account breaches, the malicious hackers made fraudulent purchases of Roku hardware and streaming subscriptions using the payment data stored in those users’ accounts. Roku said it refunded customers affected by the account intrusions.

The company, which has 80 million customers, said the malicious hackers “were not able to access sensitive user information or full credit card information.”

Roku said it discovered the second incident while it was notifying some 15,000 Roku users that their accounts were compromised in an earlier credential stuffing attack.

Following the security incidents, Roku said it rolled out two-factor authentication to users. Two-factor authentication prevents credential stuffing attacks by adding an additional layer of security to online accounts. By prompting a user to enter a time-sensitive code along with their username and password, malicious hackers cannot break into a user’s account with just a stolen password.