Romwe data breach

From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the June 2018 breach of Romwe. For every breach, see Breaches.

The Romwe data breach exposed 19,531,820 accounts from romwe.com in June 2018. The data taken includes passwords, names, physical addresses and phone numbers and 2 more kinds of data.[1]

Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 18 Jan 2021, 3 years later. It is the 97th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.

What was exposed

Romwe’s breach included 6 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.
NamesMakes scam messages personal enough to believe.
Physical addressesUsed to prove who you are, and for scam letters and parcels.
Phone numbersExpect scam texts and calls, and a higher risk of someone moving your number to their SIM.
Geographic locationsRoughly where you live.
IP addressesRoughly where you were when you used the service.

What to do

  1. Change your Romwe password.If the account still exists, sign in at Romwe (romwe.com) and change it.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Distrust messages that mention Romwe.Scammers use breach data to sound genuine. Don’t click links in emails or texts about the breach; go to the site yourself.
  5. 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, 3 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:

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

References

  1. ^ Troy Hunt. “Romwe”, Have I Been Pwned, added 18 Jan 2021. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.