NewsCompaniesFlawsGuides
Get the app

Aimware data breach

From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the April 2019 breach of Aimware. For every breach, see Breaches.

The Aimware data breach exposed 305,470 accounts from aimware.net in April 2019. The data taken includes passwords, usernames, email addresses and private messages and 2 more kinds of data.[1]

Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 2 May 2022, 3 years later. It is the 519th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.

What was exposed

Aimware’s breach included 6 kinds of data. What each lets criminals do:

DataWhat it’s used for
PasswordsCriminals try leaked passwords on email, banking and shopping sites, because people reuse them.
UsernamesHalf of a login. With a reused password, it opens other accounts.
Email addressesExpect scam emails that name the company to look genuine.
Private messagesWhat you wrote, readable by whoever has the data.
IP addressesRoughly where you were when you used the service.
Website activityPersonal details that make scam messages more convincing.

What to do

  1. Check whether you’re in it.Search your email address on Have I Been Pwned. It tells you which breaches it appears in, Aimware among them, without showing the data.
  2. Change your Aimware password.If the account still exists, sign in at Aimware (aimware.net) and change it.
  3. Change it anywhere you used the same one.Start with your email, then banking and shopping. Leaked passwords are tried on other sites automatically, within days.
  4. Use a password manager and two-step sign-in.A different password for every site means one breach can’t open the rest. Two-step sign-in stops a leaked password working on its own.
  5. Distrust messages that mention Aimware.Scammers use breach data to sound genuine. Don’t click links in emails or texts about the breach; go to the site yourself.

Timeline

  • : the breach, as best it can be dated.
  • : Have I Been Pwned verifies the data and adds it to its search, 3 years later.

Breaches often stay hidden for a long time. Until it came out, people in it had no reason to change anything.

Similar breaches

Breaches that leaked the same kinds of data, closest in time:

See Breaches for all 618, and Updates for keeping your devices patched.

References

  1. ^ Troy Hunt. “Aimware”, Have I Been Pwned, added 2 May 2022. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.