Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Hacked! How Safe Are You?

Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter and Pinterest accounts have been hacked. Word of the exploit came to light after hackers posted messages through the compromised accounts.

BBC reports that hacks could have been a consequence of compromise of LinkedIn accounts in 2012. Credentials of LinkedIn users were then reportedly sold on the dark web and were used by hackers to gain access to Zuckerberg's accounts. The hacker group, which goes by its Twitter handle Ourmine, has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

According to Business Insider, the hackers were able to gain access as Zuckerberg reused the same password that was compromised in the LinkedIn hack, defying a security rule that most companies advocate. A tweet by the hackers also indicated this may have been the case.

A message from the hackers reads: "Hey, [Mark Zuckerberg]," one message sent from his Twitter account reads. "You were in [the] Linkedin Database with the password "dadada" ! DM for proof."

Mark Zuckerberg is not an avid Twitter user, his account reveals; his last tweet was in 2012. But he enjoys more than half a million followers.

Word of Mark Zuckerberg's account getting hacked sent shivers down the tech community which questioned how he can keep safe the data of a billion users.

"Pretty scary if you also understand that he manages personal data of one billion people," one user tweeted in response to tweet from security Ben Hall, who announced the hack.

Twitter accounts of noted personalities getting hacked has happened with increasing frequency. Last week, singer Katy Perry's account, the most followed account on Twitter, was reportedly hacked. More recently, Kardashian clan member Kylie Jenner's account too was hacked.

Hackers who took on Mark Zuckerberg also claimed they had gotten hold of his Instagram account. What could be of some solace to Zuckerberg is Facebook's that defenses proved strong enough to prevent compromise of his Instagram account.