Chegg data breach
From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the April 2018 breach of Chegg. For every breach, see Breaches.
The Chegg data breach exposed 39,721,127 accounts from chegg.com in April 2018. The data taken includes passwords, usernames, names and physical addresses and 2 more kinds of data.[1]
Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 16 Aug 2019, 16 months later. It is the 53rd largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.
What was exposed
Chegg’s breach included 6 kinds of data. What each lets criminals do:
| Data | What it’s used for |
|---|---|
| Passwords | Criminals try leaked passwords on email, banking and shopping sites, because people reuse them. |
| Usernames | Half of a login. With a reused password, it opens other accounts. |
| Names | Makes scam messages personal enough to believe. |
| Physical addresses | Used to prove who you are, and for scam letters and parcels. |
| Email addresses | Expect scam emails that name the company to look genuine. |
| Phone numbers | Expect scam texts and calls, and a higher risk of someone moving your number to their SIM. |
What to do
- Check whether you’re in it.Search your email address on Have I Been Pwned. It tells you which breaches it appears in, Chegg among them, without showing the data.
- Change your Chegg password.If the account still exists, sign in at Chegg (chegg.com) and change it.
- 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.
- 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.
- Distrust messages that mention Chegg.Scammers use breach data to sound genuine. Don’t click links in emails or texts about the breach; go to the site yourself.
- Put a PIN on your phone account.Ask your mobile provider for a port-out PIN, so no one can move your number to their SIM.
Timeline
- : the breach, as best it can be dated.
- : Have I Been Pwned verifies the data and adds it to its search, 16 months later.
- : the entry was last updated.
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:
- 123RF, March 2020, 8.7 million accounts
- LiveAuctioneers, June 2020, 3.4 million accounts
- NetGalley, December 2020, 1.4 million accounts
- TrueFire, February 2020, 599,667 accounts
- ProctorU, June 2020, 444,453 accounts
- Imavex, August 2021, 878,209 accounts
See Breaches for all 618, and Updates for keeping your devices patched.
References
External links
- Have I Been Pwned, to check your email address
- chegg.com, Chegg’s website