Company still investigating the extent of the data breach

Aug 27, 2016 10:30 GMT  ·  By

Opera has reset user passwords for Opera Sync, a browser feature used to synchronize passwords, settings and browsing data across different devices and browser installations.

In an emailed statement (embedded below) and via a blog post, Opera has admitted to suffering a server breach earlier this week.

The company says that an unknown attacker managed to gain access to Opera Sync systems.

Even if they detected the intrusion and blocked his access, the company fears that some user data might have been exposed. As such, Opera has now reset all user passwords as a precaution.

Server breach has grave implications

The incident is of grave importance because of the nature of the data stored in the system. If an attacker gained access to a user's account, they would be able to obtain a list of usernames and passwords for other services, their browsing history, and more.

If the user allowed Opera Sync to synchronize their password data to other devices, that means that a copy of those passwords is now available on Opera's servers.

The company says that while Opera Sync passwords used to authenticate to the service were hashed and salted, the (synced) passwords saved in each user account were encrypted.

Opera is still investigating the extent of the breach and the information the attacker managed to access.

Dropbox announced a similar incident yesterday

The news of Opera asking users to reset their Sync passwords comes a day after Dropbox asked users who registered on the service before mid-2012 to do the same.

Unlike Dropbox, which is used on a daily basis by tens of millions of people, possibly hundreds, Opera says that only 0.5 percent (1.7 million) of its total 350 million users used Opera Sync in the last month.

That's not a surprise since not many users employ browser data syncing services in general, and because Opera has lost a huge portion of its userbase after announcing a sale to a conglomerate of Chinese companies.

Below is the email sent out by Opera to its users, courtesy of Softpedia reader Junaid T.

Opera Email