NewsCompaniesFlawsGuides
Get the app

QIP data breach

From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the June 2011 breach of QIP. For every breach, see Breaches.

The QIP data breach exposed 26,183,992 accounts from qip.ru in June 2011. The data taken includes passwords, usernames, email addresses and website activity.[1]

Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 8 Jan 2017, 6 years later. It is the 71st largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.

What was exposed

QIP’s breach included 4 kinds of data. What each lets criminals do:

DataWhat it’s used for
PasswordsCriminals try leaked passwords on email, banking and shopping sites, because people reuse them.
UsernamesHalf of a login. With a reused password, it opens other accounts.
Email addressesExpect scam emails that name the company to look genuine.
Website activityPersonal 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, QIP among them, without showing the data.
  2. Change your QIP password.If the account still exists, sign in at QIP (qip.ru) 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. Distrust messages that mention QIP.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, 6 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:

  • Sony, June 2011, 37,103 accounts
  • Disqus, July 2012, 18 million accounts
  • BookCrossing, November 2012, 1.6 million accounts
  • League of Legends, June 2012, 339,487 accounts
  • Adobe, October 2013, 152 million accounts
  • iMesh, September 2013, 49 million accounts

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

References

  1. ^ Troy Hunt. “QIP”, Have I Been Pwned, added 8 Jan 2017. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.