PSA - Plex potential data breach

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NightStalker

314 posts

Ultimate Geek

#299261 24-Aug-2022 18:06

just had an email about a potential data breach.

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What we're doing

We've already addressed the method that this third-party employed to gain access to the system, and we're doing additional reviews to ensure that the security of all of our systems is further hardened to prevent future incursions. While the account passwords were secured in accordance with best practices, we're requiring all Plex users to reset their password.

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What you can do

Long story short, we kindly request that you reset your Plex account password immediately. When doing so, there's a checkbox to "Sign out connected devices after password change." This will additionally sign out all of your devices (including any Plex Media Server you own) and require you to sign back in with your new password. This is a headache, but we recommend doing so for increased security. We have created a support article with step-by-step instructions on how to reset your password here [https://support.plex.tv/articles/account-requires-password-reset/] .

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CYaBro

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#2958991 24-Aug-2022 19:46

Also got this email just now. :(

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

dpf81nz

66 posts

Master Geek

#2959020 24-Aug-2022 20:53

thanks for the heads up. Havent received the email yet but have gone and changed my PW anyway

allan

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#2959093 24-Aug-2022 22:31

Actually, Plex site looks to be struggling a bit at present, Cloudfare reporting a host error with plex.tv

Mehrts

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#2959146 25-Aug-2022 08:41

I wonder how many people are annoyed that they have to change their one password which they also use for everything else on the internet!

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#2959151 25-Aug-2022 08:52

We want you to be aware of an incident involving your Plex account information yesterday. While we believe the actual impact of this incident is limited, we want to ensure you have the right information and tools to keep your account secure.What happenedYesterday, we discovered suspicious activity on one of our databases. We immediately began an investigation and it does appear that a third-party was able to access a limited subset of data that includes emails, usernames, and encrypted passwords. Even though all account passwords that could have been accessed were hashed and secured in accordance with best practices, out of an abundance of caution we are requiring all Plex accounts to have their password reset. Rest assured that credit card and other payment data are not stored on our servers at all and were not vulnerable in this incident.What we're doingWe've already addressed the method that this third-party employed to gain access to the system, and we're doing additional reviews to ensure that the security of all of our systems is further hardened to prevent future incursions. While the account passwords were secured in accordance with best practices, we're requiring all Plex users to reset their password.What you can doLong story short, we kindly request that you reset your Plex account password immediately. When doing so, there's a checkbox to "Sign out connected devices after password change." This will additionally sign out all of your devices (including any Plex Media Server you own) and require you to sign back in with your new password. This is a headache, but we recommend doing so for increased security. We have created a support article with step-by-step instructions on how to reset your password here.We'd also like to remind you that no one at Plex will ever reach out to you to ask for a password or credit card number over email. For further account protection, we also recommend enabling two-factor authentication on your Plex account if you haven't already done so.Lastly, we sincerely apologize to you for any inconvenience this situation may cause. We take pride in our security system and want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to swiftly remedy this incident and prevent future incidents from occurring. We are all too aware that third-parties will continue to attempt to infiltrate IT infrastructures around the world, and rest assured we at Plex will never be complacent in hardening our security and defenses.For step-by-step instructions on how to reset your password, visit: https://support.plex.tv/articles/account-requires-password-resetThank you,
The Plex Security Team

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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gbwelly

1243 posts

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#2959173 25-Aug-2022 09:59

Can someone who has gone through this already answer 2 questions for me please?

After selecting the option "Sign out connected devices after password change." the Plex server will become unclaimed.

My questions are:

After claiming the server, is Watched/Un-watched information retained?

After claiming the server, are the libraries still shared with friends?

There is so much FUD going round at the moment I have not been able to get a solid answer on these points.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#2959206 25-Aug-2022 10:56

After hitting the Claim button:

Watched/Unwatched - yes, retained (or appears so on mine)

Library shares - still intact it appears as well

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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gbwelly

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#2959211 25-Aug-2022 11:04

Thank you @xpd

As geekzone has such a good search ranking in Google, now this information should be findable.

nzkc

1571 posts

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#2959213 25-Aug-2022 11:09

gbwelly:

Can someone who has gone through this already answer 2 questions for me please?

After selecting the option "Sign out connected devices after password change." the Plex server will become unclaimed.

My questions are:

After claiming the server, is Watched/Un-watched information retained?

After claiming the server, are the libraries still shared with friends?

There is so much FUD going round at the moment I have not been able to get a solid answer on these points.

Yes and Yes (for me). And I run Plex in docker so had to have the container recreated to use the new claim ID. I do have the library and meta data mounted though.