Question-and-answer site Quora says a security breach impacted 100 million of its users. Data involved included everything from people\u2019s names to how they voted on others posts.<\/b>
\nMaybe the question Quora really needs to answer is how someone was able to hack into its systems and gain access to the personal data of 100 million of its users.
The Mountain View-based question-and-answer site disclosed the breach late Monday, saying it discovered the incident Nov. 30. The attack included getting information on everything from individuals\u2019 names, email addresses and user IDs to their encrypted passwords, account settings and content including questions, answers, comments, blog posts and upvotes that users posted on the site.
\u201cWe are working rapidly to investigate the situation further and take the appropriate steps to prevent such incidents in the future,\u201d Quora co-founder Adam D\u2019Angelo said in a blog post in which the company disclosed the hack. \u201cWe also want to be as transparent as possible without compromising our security systems or the steps we\u2019re taking.\u201d
The hack is especially large when the size of Quora\u2019s user base is taken into account. In September, Quora disclosed that it had 300 million monthly users; at the same time, it raised $85 million in a round of funding that valued the company at approximately $1.8 billion.
D\u2019Angelo added that the \u201coverwhelming majority\u201d of the content that was accessed was already public on Quora, but he added that the compromising of the site was \u201cserious.\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019ve identified the root cause and taken steps to address the issue, although our investigation is ongoing and we\u2019ll continue to make security improvements,\u201d he wrote.
D\u2019Angelo said that Quora has begun notifying users whose data was compromised, and that its users should consider changing their account passwords.
The Quora security breach comes just over two months since Facebook disclosed that 50 million of its users had their personal data compromised in a hacking attack on the social network\u2019s security systems.<\/p>\n