Hello Steemians,

TBH, I spent a good amount of time figuring out a title for this post so that it does not seem like click-bait ;p because... see it for yourself, do a simple google search for 'hacked steemit accounts' and you will know what I am talking about. There are a lot of articles with titles like 'we hacked a load of steemit accounts with enough SBD to make us super rich but we are good guys so we will return the accounts to their owners', and many of them are click-bait(-ish) since they have no crucial info but their private memo keys; and no, they can't make no transactions with them.

By the way, this post is all about raising awareness in the community and a few questions that have come up in my mind when I was doing the research. So, it all started with a simple google search, that's mentioned above, and I found a few articles which mentioned those users who left their private keys (some even left their original password) in their transaction memos and those articles also mentioned python code by which anybody could get all the information in a few minutes. But, I took a sigh if relief when I found that those articles were about two years old and since then, Steemit has taken some security measures to make it even safer.

When I was doing my research I found that most of the time, it was not the users themselves who left their private keys, but it was these trading companies like blocktrades, poloniex, bittrex etc. who did that, I think they must be questioned regarding this. I later confirmed that using steemd.com

These are the accounts whose security has been compromised and I urge them to change their passwords ASAP:

victory622 5KXJ33gea9vmPEtWxTAbHTNVyp6F8xxXfNePNzUnLCXNAvXDkhT

athleteyoga 5KU2dcxLpSCJZ4SB8eBqUJs2PCEuwfx7w2XYCUmcnLqgdHHqjq2

rawmeen 5JnLMoPRry2n361tPxQq7MYy16tn5PuT2PmsP1FLrRGJsp1Vfem

hingedthomas 5JtBsXesxSw8v5oDbo5sgyjzQBHbQQgK6KRGwz2FyckMVbKwpFQ

amjadsharif 5JzgW6gQNV5ipnjgA3TxNmXLNV34xyQpYBoq1rZMs8hQoTKZc5n

yoyowhatsup 5KKG3yg3pMrLzobFXNeXik5iiaXvfnrpYAcjE2aQ1CMDE2SEF3i

puneetsuthar 5KiBrUTV1v2gPNoTUMkQnW3rXnPe7k8Hg7cBhNXFGdQDejFemxL

olaivart 5J7TiCqhdFCNf5PujW469maJWPt4qegBVfyYdfYgaPUwiR6apVc

bhikamsinghojha 5KKS8qrVinHanVZhXAAuujFE5KbR3NgAHjoLqqr6JmsjPkaedj7

torquewrench1969 5JMdNfhZdKDzF9hkV1R38AVXwXuZPDUm7XPTzhEQ6gupum6YcVL

sutharnatwar 5K3J12d3rYjK8GXQ2p9YoCXSqqKJymDrHWWqMu8tUyq3RMBLMSE

kayceefresh 5Jms1R56xR1cpeUfyMQuCCUX5Kigxj7qA4MmdTykjaoLjZimCuu

maksym7 5KgqfF5kDjup8d1pvXskYBZBeaZM19FA88zSbBGkRrvRmDDDTvr

samiksa1982 5Jxx99p19FyMupAQWAjcMb9ctaCqfVUQfjUhcn5kydr6U3SsYaD

isnaldo 5KaN36Kx8frfu5BjZoSKsWWd2AknDLGqDvnqjoCTs7dLaE9zJUM

hubbi 5KGqbedCSCq6voLKRiu3kwmPRYwDY41qdovYspedc9oWnArVLpm

kpopnews 5K1sdeNwpDNkBPBRoSQWC4pFVET82e4NaU5DVZ9jp86tpN2hpZN

brendapenalver 5KdbSvmdpa3syVzTLs3gPtLPe8ZPhLmwqctZBYSw7Ywt9aV7vw7

jefryagooners 5HxRZ6yKEYgUWHmQj8VP7jM7qzqQQH8mjmuKMyjog4T9oUwCkZd

muhammadzikri 5KRLmVn7rFkkekxUMwsHvgymJ8WwEDZ3fdtXo6mCSk479MzSzRv

tucsond 5KVwrWxiAoUeiPGRFMDbLmJkoXdWDwqSo3zruytx3oMK2mngoUf

aksen 5JQ3JXRcwGMCeaUmN28bYW1kisqpU43rAT39vV3drWUW576JppL

nadilchairi 5K3CWrRAisCzPGqQYzXSyyWzEBTXvZ9v3RLNbeFNK9njKrfapJ4

sochimasazzy 5J3T5HoTpRz23Q6gYtfaz6PrTLQfCFbrLtM32RwR2njrzrN1WTK

alfonzoasdrubal 5JoBGs7G8fPFiaGuhSW4doEWR1w8mZjXwVGLrsaw4kg862SQ8vk

masril 5KczAMMUFRvB6HZhY4ghynunW5n4vgWY8hQbhRqUnsoHQ5Arhhb

davemccoy 5JptPQVubiWXmzpCCQHwLHLHSurDDfHGRu6iw6iX89Qdhj4mdKb

muzawir85 5JgizpQQ4Hmyx4zxofQrJPa6KEtGLxXVYVSGy2iqgP6KvYSLLZx

ceruleanblue 5JW26AXaHSDdwDYHULSJTrYaS74K9SU6Zxyp3FWFsYSiYBZiL4K

sopranos 5Jo2DEP25qFU1kHopWdn1AhizM6p5wRXS9Wt2FM6Ji2pykHtEoh

woohoooo 5KQjgJRaVTWQWSHLTNJPnLCZbVdGt8nyA2kzPQiSxKWhfRDQasK

kabirpajares 5JhMxfwnVfcXKM3AJc4qaRixjzD8pRSdNbWE92VLFVn5zNcXx6b

teuku.reza 5JpozDCQMGGJ9QTtdJokqDqgwe6BPBfeQg5LF5cdREkB5CrofaW

hifidelity 5KJRCyAssjK2f7sxxnL4SAXoxHNHrErpzLLSt5J8EwVKL6UzM3P

jeremiwilkins 5JsuZvzCbwwCUU7fRmAeaci3Aj2GNHQZyGYHqFXSCc7cvVCYbwi

ryh0505 5JC6hB3E3T39uHMMDtYAbpsgrDdQf8njBbpjyjWxL7tFBiwGDQX

jinlee 5KPXseE94hC4KpjwoV1B1gad64iFsG4eU9ijZQWqnyRrKKGoKKX

goldcoin 5KTccFXFJCUJp1DwmEHwotk5DjBJdUheNzC8gKxVt39TysVqN4B

rachiid 5JaPwgShtdkAPtqDwj82BuoTzw2WQ5hAkUrvRTm2kRggL5dnaVQ

ravindraojha 5K5bVFhQFR9CxGzY1XnKky6DUpM1d4ktqd6xejFpgT1ASas42jy

puneetsuthar 5KiBrUTV1v2gPNoTUMkQnW3rXnPe7k8Hg7cBhNXFGdQDejFemxL

yan01 5KeRmmBNGFCWfZp9vGo11MxgxP6H8fT6uochZopCYep5XBWo2n8

kayceefresh 5Jms1R56xR1cpeUfyMQuCCUX5Kigxj7qA4MmdTykjaoLjZimCuu

maksym7 5KgqfF5kDjup8d1pvXskYBZBeaZM19FA88zSbBGkRrvRmDDDTvr

aamaksal 5KJM9fd6Ur4GukHsNpYmFVkVgPqYGMLtMydSRTfdEALczhZo4Nf

junef 5JYHS7qvRUSZk8Spb8Jsz6vdAJEYRd31eBSLM8rAq38AnkktUWo

safrijals 5JqpxMkt1LPw187EzNjHWhhJJfqKEFtP8EAQmMPsiKRcgCxBk99

Since we are talking about security, I can't forget to mention noble people like @noblebot who are working hard and contribute greatly to the community. One more thing I want to tell you is that Steemit had implemented a feature long ago so you can't leave any of your keys in the memo, so the only way your keys may be compromised is by these trading companies.

Goodbye, stay safe...

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