WASHINGTON — The popular crowdfunding website Kickstarter, which helps fledgling projects raise money among an estimated 5.9 million individual users, reported Saturday in an email that its network had been hacked.
According to the email obtained by WTOP, law enforcement officials had contacted the website to alert them that “hackers had sought and gained unauthorized access to some of our customers’ data.”
Kickstarter assured that no credit card information was stolen.
“No credit card data of any kind was accessed by hackers. There is no evidence of unauthorized activity of any kind on your account,” the company assured.
“While no credit card data was accessed, some information about our customers was. Accessed information included usernames, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and encrypted passwords. Actual passwords were not revealed, however it is possible for a malicious person with enough computing power to guess and crack an encrypted password, particularly a weak or obvious one.
“As a precaution, we strongly recommend that you change the password of your Kickstarter account, and other accounts where you use this password.”
According to the Kickstarter website, over $850 million has been pledged by more than 5 million people through its engine since 2009, funding more than 50,000 creative projects — from arts, fashion and music, to publishing and non-profit campaigns.
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