Games Box data breach
From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the September 2020 breach of Games Box. For every breach, see Breaches.
The Games Box data breach exposed 1,439,354 accounts from gamesbox.com in September 2020. The data taken includes passwords, usernames, email addresses, ages and genders.[1]
Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 15 Sep 2024, 4 years later. It is the 353rd largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.
What was exposed
Games Box’s breach included 5 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. |
| Email addresses | Expect scam emails that name the company to look genuine. |
| Ages | Personal details that make scam messages more convincing. |
| Genders | Personal details that make scam messages more convincing. |
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, Games Box among them, without showing the data.
- Change your Games Box password.If the account still exists, sign in at Games Box (gamesbox.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 Games Box.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, 4 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:
- Wattpad, June 2020, 269 million accounts
- Wishbone (2020), January 2020, 9.7 million accounts
- Jefit, August 2020, 9.1 million accounts
- 123RF, March 2020, 8.7 million accounts
- Animal Jam, October 2020, 7.1 million accounts
- LiveAuctioneers, June 2020, 3.4 million accounts
See Breaches for all 618, and Updates for keeping your devices patched.
References
- ^ Troy Hunt. “Games Box”, Have I Been Pwned, added 15 Sep 2024. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.
External links
- Have I Been Pwned, to check your email address
- gamesbox.com, Games Box’s website