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KM.RU data breach

From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the February 2016 breach of KM.RU. For every breach, see Breaches.

The KM.RU data breach exposed 1,476,783 accounts from km.ru in February 2016. The data taken includes security questions and answers, usernames, dates of birth and email addresses and 3 more kinds of data.[1]

Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 3 Mar 2016, within a month. It is the 348th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.

What was exposed

KM.RU’s breach included 7 kinds of data. What each lets criminals do:

DataWhat it’s used for
Security questions and answersThe answers reset passwords elsewhere, and you can’t change your mother’s maiden name.
UsernamesHalf of a login. With a reused password, it opens other accounts.
Dates of birthUsed to prove who you are to banks and phone companies.
Email addressesExpect scam emails that name the company to look genuine.
GendersPersonal details that make scam messages more convincing.
Geographic locationsRoughly where you live.
Recovery email addressesPersonal 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, KM.RU among them, without showing the data.
  2. Turn on two-step sign-in.On KM.RU (km.ru) and your email, so leaked sign-in details aren’t enough on their own.
  3. Change your security answers.Wherever you used the same ones. They don’t have to be true: treat them like extra passwords.
  4. Distrust messages that mention KM.RU.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, within a month.

Similar breaches

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

  • Liker, March 2021, 465,141 accounts
  • Funimation, July 2016, 2.5 million accounts
  • 500px, July 2018, 15 million accounts
  • Pluto TV, October 2018, 3.2 million accounts
  • gPotato, July 2007, 2.1 million accounts
  • Malwarebytes, November 2014, 111,623 accounts

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

References

  1. ^ Troy Hunt. “KM.RU”, Have I Been Pwned, added 3 Mar 2016. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.