Niantic CEO John Hanke hacked by OurMine

We’ve seen Google‘s, Twitter‘s and even Facebook‘s CEOs suffer social media account hacks this year, but it seems that hackers have an appetite for game development companies too. In what seems to be OurMine’s latest attack, the CEO of Niantic John Henke woke Sunday to find the lock of his Twitter account picked.

Niantic — known as the developer of Pokemon Go — is currently enjoying some monumental success after the game’s staged release, but while its CEO might have a taste for inventive games, his password creation skills are apparently less than competent.

OurMine has hacked Niantic CEO John Hanke’s account, revealing his incredibly weak password in the process

While the tweets suggest that the attacker is Robin Hood hacker collective OurMine, the inconsistent tweet structure leaves room for questions.

OurMine’s hacked list

• Google CEO’s Quora account hacked by ‘OurMine’
• Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Twitter account briefly hijacked by OurMine

The collective usually adds a link to its website on the hacked account, suggesting that it’s simply “testing the security” of a page or account. However, additional tweets left on Hanke’s (still) exposed timeline don’t entirely fit that format.

Instead, the tweets suggest that the hack was “claimed by Brazil”, a country that has yet to see the likes of Pokemon Go arrive on its shores. The attacker also revealed Hanke’s password, which is another inconsistency.

Regardless, this is perhaps yet another reminder that we all really should take passwords and account authentication a little more seriously, whether we own Pokemon Go or not.