We've been tracking a consistent stream of older forum breaches appearing in combolists, often recycled across multiple platforms. What initially seemed like background noise took on new significance when we noticed a cluster of these breaches targeting specific interest groups, hinting at a potential campaign to harvest credentials for targeted attacks. This Nottingham Forest Rumours Mobile breach, dating back to August 2018, stood out not for its size, but for the specific demographic it impacts: fans of a particular football club. This focus suggests a possible motive beyond simple credential stuffing.
The breach at Nottingham Forest Rumours Mobile exposed the data of 42,044 users. The leaked information consists of email addresses and MD5 password hashes. This breach came to our attention as we were monitoring combolists used in credential stuffing attacks. The age of the breach – dating back to 2018 – underscores the long tail of risk associated with older, less secure websites and the importance of password hygiene across all online accounts. The data appeared on multiple combolists in August 2018.
The use of MD5 for password hashing is a significant weakness. While common in older systems, MD5 is now considered cryptographically broken, making it relatively easy to crack the password hashes and obtain the plaintext passwords. This means that users who used the same password on other services are now at increased risk of account compromise across those platforms.
The breach highlights the ongoing risk associated with older web applications and the importance of modern security practices, including strong password hashing algorithms and multi-factor authentication. The focused nature of the target – a community of football fans – suggests that attackers may be attempting to gain access to other online accounts associated with this specific demographic, potentially for financial gain, targeted phishing, or even social engineering attacks.
While there's no mainstream media coverage of this specific breach, the broader trend of forum breaches being used in credential stuffing attacks is well-documented. Security researchers have observed a consistent pattern of attackers targeting niche online communities to harvest credentials. These credentials are then used to target individuals with tailored phishing campaigns or to gain access to more valuable accounts on other platforms.
A search on BreachForums shows multiple mentions of the Nottingham Forest Rumours Mobile data, with users claiming to have used the data successfully in credential stuffing attacks. Archiving these forum discussions is essential for tracking attacker activity and understanding the real-world impact of these breaches.
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