NewsCompaniesFlawsGuides
Get the app

Aternos data breach

From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the December 2015 breach of Aternos. For every breach, see Breaches.

The Aternos data breach exposed 1,436,486 accounts from aternos.org in December 2015. The data taken includes passwords, usernames, email addresses, IP addresses and website activity.[1]

Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 1 Oct 2016, 10 months later. It is the 354th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.

What was exposed

Aternos’s breach included 5 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.
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, Aternos among them, without showing the data.
  2. Change your Aternos password.If the account still exists, sign in at Aternos (aternos.org) 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 Aternos.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, 10 months later.

Similar breaches

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

  • R2Games, November 2015, 22 million accounts
  • xat, November 2015, 6 million accounts
  • OVH, May 2015, 452,899 accounts
  • Plex, July 2015, 327,314 accounts
  • Dailymotion, October 2016, 85 million accounts
  • Evony, June 2016, 29 million accounts

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

References

  1. ^ Troy Hunt. “Aternos”, Have I Been Pwned, added 1 Oct 2016. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.