Large-scale data theft fazes Finnish police

Finnish police on Monday called on users of online services to change their passwords after nearly 15,000 user names and passwords were stolen and published on the Internet.

"If I could get one message across to people, it would be to change your passwords, especially the important ones," Timo Piiroinen of the National Bureau of Investigation told AFP.

Piiroinen confirmed that the 14,600 passwords posted online late Saturday night appeared to be connected to a previous incident, in which the personal data of nearly 16,000 Finns were hacked into and made public.

"We have been told that some passwords match email addresses in the earlier incident," he explained.

Police are investingating the two indicents as part of a larger case of identity and data theft.

"We are treating both cases as connected," Piiroinen said.

(c) 2011 AFP