Cyber attack puts data of Opera users at risk

Opera Software, which offers mobile browser under the same name, has warned that some user data may have been compromised, following a security breach on its ‘Sync’ service.

Opera’s Sync service, which allows users synchronise their browsing data across different devices, has a total active userbase of about 1.7 million. “Earlier this week, we detected signs of an attack where access was gained to the Opera sync system. This attack was quickly blocked. Our investigations are ongoing, but we believe some data, including some of our sync users’ passwords and account information, such as login names, may have been compromised,” Opera said in a blogpost.

It added that while the Norwegian company only stored encrypted passwords, it has “reset all the Opera sync account passwords as a precaution”.

Opera said it has also sent emails to all Opera sync users to inform them about the incident and ask them to change the password for their Opera sync accounts.

“In an abundance of caution, we have encouraged users to also reset any passwords to third party sites they may have synchronised with the service,” it said.

The total active number of users of Opera sync in the last month was 1.7 million, less than 0.5 per cent of the total Opera user base of 350 million people.

Opera has about 50 million users of its mobile browser in India.

The company is betting big on the country as a significant portion of people access the Internet through their mobile phones to do so.

The breach comes a little after a month since a Chinese consortium led by Golden Brick Silk Road tookover the company for $600 million. The consortium acquired the mobile and desktop versions of the browser, plus performance and privacy apps and a stake in a Chinese joint venture.