There’s always some ambient level of phishing and hacking attempts going on at all times, and one likely explanation is that a few people noticed it and assumed (wrongly) that it had to do with that new app they just installed, which in this case was Houseparty. Similarly, a Spotify spokesperson said it had not seen unusual activity. Even if Houseparty had leaked passwords, PayPal has other safeguards in place for accounts that would prevent malicious logins.
Except that Houseparty insists this wasn't the case - it said it saw no evidence of any sort of password or user data breach.Ī spokesperson for PayPal confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it had not seen any user issues related to Houseparty, and that its user accounts remained secure. The app has been around for a few years and was acquired this summer by Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite.īut what if Houseparty were hacked, leaking passwords that hackers could use to log into your other accounts (because you’re a normal person who uses the same password for multiple apps)? Well that seems possible.
There’s little logical reason for Houseparty to want to hack your Spotify (or any other account, for that matter). That was strange, but what was stranger still was the company’s claim that some entity was making up false rumors on social media about hacking it as part of a paid, targeted smear campaign. “We’ve found no evidence to suggest a link between Houseparty and the compromises of other unrelated accounts,” Houseparty’s reps said in a statement. Houseparty denied that it was either hacking people’s accounts or that hackers were using it to enter people's accounts. But in the last few days, there have been tweets from people who claimed their other accounts - including Spotify, PayPal, and Netflix - had been hacked after installing Houseparty. Houseparty has seen a surge in popularity in the last few weeks as people are staying inside and want a way to hang out with their friends.