Liker data breach

From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the March 2021 breach of Liker. For every breach, see Breaches.

The Liker data breach exposed 465,141 accounts from liker.com in March 2021. The data taken includes auth tokens, passwords, security questions and answers and usernames and 9 more kinds of data.[1]

Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 13 Mar 2021, within a month. It is the 485th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.

What was exposed

Liker’s breach included 13 kinds of data. What each lets criminals do:

DataWhat it’s used for
Auth tokensA token can let someone into the account without the password at all.
PasswordsCriminals try leaked passwords on email, banking and shopping sites, because people reuse them.
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.
NamesMakes scam messages personal enough to believe.
Email addressesExpect scam emails that name the company to look genuine.
Phone numbersExpect scam texts and calls, and a higher risk of someone moving your number to their SIM.
Social media profilesA way to reach you with scams.
Private messagesWhat you wrote, readable by whoever has the data.
Education levelsPersonal details that make scam messages more convincing.
Geographic locationsRoughly where you live.
IP addressesRoughly where you were when you used the service.

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, Liker among them, without showing the data.
  2. Change your Liker password.If the account still exists, sign in at Liker (liker.com) 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. Change your security answers.Wherever you used the same ones. They don’t have to be true: treat them like extra passwords.
  6. Distrust messages that mention Liker.Scammers use breach data to sound genuine. Don’t click links in emails or texts about the breach; go to the site yourself.
  7. 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, within a month.
  • : the entry was last updated.

Similar breaches

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

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

References

  1. ^ Troy Hunt. “Liker”, Have I Been Pwned, added 13 Mar 2021. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.