Houzz data breach
From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the May 2018 breach of Houzz. For every breach, see Breaches.
The Houzz data breach exposed 48,881,308 accounts from houzz.com in May 2018. The data taken includes passwords, usernames, names and email addresses and 3 more kinds of data.[1]
Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 12 Mar 2019, 10 months later. It is the 47th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.
What was exposed
Houzz’s breach included 7 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. |
| Email addresses | Expect scam emails that name the company to look genuine. |
| Social media profiles | A way to reach you with scams. |
| Geographic locations | Roughly where you live. |
| IP addresses | Roughly where you were when you used the service. |
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, Houzz among them, without showing the data.
- Change your Houzz password.If the account still exists, sign in at Houzz (houzz.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 Houzz.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:
- Pluto TV, October 2018, 3.2 million accounts
- ixigo, January 2019, 17 million accounts
- Wattpad, June 2020, 269 million accounts
- Wishbone (2020), January 2020, 9.7 million accounts
- Liker, March 2021, 465,141 accounts
- piZap, December 2017, 42 million 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
- houzz.com, Houzz’s website