NEWSEA, a rival site to TSR has been hacked and the data of 3,322 of its users has been posted online.
CHANGE ALL OF YOUR PASSWORDS NOW.
Unlike the last information leak, where 614 people had their names email address shared on the grapevine, this new leak is far more dangerous, the online list not only contains usernames and emails, but your PASSWORDS and your country of origin and and some full names.
I understand there are rumors already in the community, and in some cases these rumors are not being believed, I can confirm that I have seen the full list online and I can not stress how urgent it is that you take action to change your passwords. The information is listed in this format: id - username - email – password - firstname - lastname - country
On May the 10th, a few members of staff were approached, and on May 11th were given subscriber passes to Newsea. The idea was to download and share Newsea subscriber only files through torrent sites in an attempt to damage the Newsea business and limit their monetary income. I was under the impression that TSR had bought the subscriptions. Shortly after, I heard that Newsea was willing to sell the site to TSR and return as FA. Talks broke down apparently when Tom accused Newsea of being greedy and wanting far too much for the site, I have no idea what Newsea asked for or what he was offered, but whatever it was, Tom said it was too much but he was certain Newsea would be back with ‘his tail between his legs’. Yesterday I was told that every member of Newsea has had their username, email name and password leaked online. Shortly before this news went public, TSR posted a cryptic and confusing message on their front page.
“TSR members are being targeted in the community by people trying to cause trouble. Please remember that nobody from TSR will ever ask for your password for the site. If anyone approaches you on Facebook, Forums or Chat, claiming to be from TSR and asking you for your login details, do not give them out!”
You may wonder what is so cryptic and confusing about this message? For a start the first paragraph is the focus of events that have never happened, there have been no reports of anyone being approached on facebook, forums or chat by anyone asking for login details. This part of the statement is clearly just an opener and just an excuse to make an announcement so that they can get to the second paragraph..
Passwords stored at TSR are encrypted. ( No they are not. ) Staff, Admins and Mods do not have access to your passwords used, ( some staff and all admins do. )
“but not all sites work that way.” Now we are getting to the point of this announcement .. Sites like Newsea? How perceptive of TSR to know that a rival site was about to have it’s entire unencrypted data leaked online. How thoughtful of TSR to let us know how *cough* secure their site is and how unsecure rival sites may be. We could have done without the demonstration.
This has not just been a hack, it has started with blackmail. With this being posted on or around April 27th
Followed by attempts from TSR to damage the business through sharing.
When Newsea refused to sell and rejoin TSR for what was probably a very low offer, the information gathered from the site was released to the public. ( ..after the careful removal of TSR FA accounts! ) You do not need me to explain what this means to the 3,322 people who have had their emails and passwords displayed for all to see, or the damage to the reputation of Newseas site.
Still not convinced that TSR are liars? TSR have even gone as far as writing words in Newsea’s TSR blog, that were not written by Newsea and replying to messages that were not replied to by Newsea -In fact Newsea have NO access to their own TSR blog. What kind of respectable site would impersonate an artist through blog posts and messages while locking them out of their own account. That in itself is illegal.
Newsea says: “Please do not give the newsea of TSR site message! because the account has been modified by the TSR, we do not have the permissions of that account, all speak of the newsea of TSR site not what we say!”
Hacking. Blackmail. Impersonation. This is how low TSR will go to destroy the competition. For those who have very little sympathy for a paysite like Newsea, remember that paysites are not the only rival to TSR.
February 3, 2012
Newsea
I have often been asked what happened between Newsea and TSR, I have been asked again today, and this has prompted me to write a few lines on what I know and what I have heard.
For those that do not know, Newsea are a duo of hair designers who are now former FA’s at TSR.
Story #1
The initial story from TSR was that Newsea got ideas well above their station, with diva-like demands. Apart from a raise, they demanded their own personal subscription section on TSR and wanted 100% of the profit for those additional subscriptions – otherwise they would leave TSR and open a rival paysite. Tom had no choice but to let them go as TSR were unable to afford to pay them any extra on their already massive wage of $500 per set also they did not want to have a separate subscription set up for just Newsea. Upon leaving Newsea demanded payment for the next 3 months in advance, Tom refused and Newsea was banned from the site after posting bad things about TSR on their TSR blog.
Source: Thomas@TSR
Story #2
The other story is that when Newsea were asked to join TSR they were offered an initial £300 per set starting pay and told that after they got established their wage would go up to $400-$500 per set depending on demand. Later in the year TSR would offer an additional subscription service for Newsea hair, where Newsea would get a minimum of 30%. This sounded like a good deal and Newsea signed up. However the raise and the subscription deal never materialised and when Newsea asked about the raise Tom turned nasty. Newsea decided to leave as Tom had gone back on his promise and they wished to open a new site. When they advertised their new site on their TSR blog, they were banned from the blog and Tom withheld payment for all their last completed sets uploaded that month. Newsea opened their own site.
Source: A friend of Newsea
Although it seems unclear on the surface which story is true, I believe the second to be much nearer the mark:
- It would not be the first time Tom has gone back on a promise, in fact he will promise anything to get a creator to upload at TSR. The worst possible outcome to him is that they eventually leave TSR when they realise they have been conned, however by then they have closed their own site/left MTS and uploaded everything to TSR, which he then keeps, labels as his own property and no longer has to pay the artist. Kind of a win/win for him. The situation with Newsea sounds all too familiar.
- This is not the first time I have heard the extra subscription idea, for Premium Artists ( PA’s ) Tom has been talking about this a lot as a way to get well known artists into TSR, so it is totally believable that Newsea was offered this as a sweetener.
- I have yet to speak to anyone who saw the ‘bad things’ Newsea allegedly posted on their blog, I am inclined to go with the second story where posting a site link got them locked out of their site. I also think the current cheery message on their TSR mini site may not have been written by them, it looks to me like the standard editing done by Tom after an FA gets kicked.
It is evident to me that Newsea was well and truly screwed over by TSR.
Now you know what I know, but the only one who really knows the truth is Newsea. If Newsea would like to put their story forward, I would be happy to publish it and set the record straight.