UPDATED 04:59 EDT / JUNE 27 2016

NEWS

Google CEO Sundar Pichai hacked by same group that embarrassed Mark Zuckerberg this month

A group of hackers – or perhaps security professionals with an underhanded marketing strategy – known as OurMine are at it again embarrassing the world’s most well known tech executives. Earlier this month the group hacked Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter, Inc. and Pinterest, Inc. accounts, as well as CEO of Spotify Ltd., Daniel Ek’s Twitter account. The group recently turned its attention towards Google Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai when it briefly hacked his Twitter and Quora accounts.

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OurMine, now calling itself a security outfit, wrote on its website, “Today, we checked Sundar Pichai’s security, and we got access to his Twitter & Quora accounts, his security was really weak.” The group, thought to be a three-man team, had earlier hacked celebrities seemingly just for the hell of it, although now OurMine says it’s offering its services to give people and companies better security.

It’s reported that OurMine, whose location is unknown, has already made $16,500 from selling its services. In an interview with The Next Web the group said that they managed to exploit a vulnerability in Quora’s platform. A vulnerability OurMine says it has reported to Quora, without as yet receiving a response.

OurMine now seems to be selling itself as one of the good guys, telling The Next Web that its hacks are for the good of the victim. “We are just testing people security, we never change their passwords, we did it because there is other hackers can hack them and change everything,” said OurMine. While the group’s location is unknown it’s likely that in light of English language mistakes it makes in posts and interviews, that English is not OurMine’s first language.

Pichai’s account has now been cleaned up.

Photo credit: Ken Yeung via Flickr

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