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In the massive crime industry that hacks billion dollar companies

This article was produced with support from WIRED.

On October 20, a hacker calling himself Dark X said he logged into a server and stole the personal information of 350 million Hot Topic customers. The following day, Dark The day after, Dark X said Hot Topic kicked them out.

Dark You happened to receive login credentials from a developer who had access to Hot Topic's crown jewels. To prove this, Dark Alon Gal from cybersecurity company Hudson Rock sent me, who found the link first between infostealers and the Hot Topic breach said the hacker sent him the same credentials.

The luck part is true. But the alleged Hot Topic hack is also the latest breach directly tied to a sprawling underground industry that has made hacking some of the world's most important companies easy.

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