Hackers Compromise Business IM Service HipChat

Malicious actors have managed to compromise servers powering HipChat, the business-focused group chat and instant message (IM) service.

According to a security notice posted by HipChat’s Craig Davies on Saturday night, hackers were able to breach the firm’s defenses and access names, usernames, email addresses, and encrypted passwords of a small percentage of its customers.

According to Davies, less than 2 percent of its users were exposed in the attack, but there is no evidence that payment information was accessed.

“While HipChat passwords are one-way encrypted (hashed and salted), as an added precaution we have triggered a password reset for all affected users,” Davies wrote in the security notice. “If you have not received communication from us, we do not believe you were affected. However, you can easily change your password here. As a reminder, always avoid using simple passwords based on dictionary words and never use the same password on multiple sites or services.”

Davies did not say when the attack occured or when it was detected by the firm.

In March 2012, HipChat was acquired by Australia-based enterprise software provider Atlassian. 

Earlier this month, Atlassian released updates to address a serious vulnerability affecting several of the company’s solutions, including Confluence, FishEye, Bamboo and Crucible.