SitePoint data breach
From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the June 2020 breach of SitePoint. For every breach, see Breaches.
The SitePoint data breach exposed 1,021,790 accounts from sitepoint.com in June 2020. The data taken includes passwords, usernames, names and email addresses and 2 more kinds of data.[1]
Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 17 Aug 2022, 2 years later. It is the 417th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.
What was exposed
SitePoint’s breach included 6 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. |
| Bios | Personal details that make scam messages more convincing. |
| 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, SitePoint among them, without showing the data.
- Change your SitePoint password.If the account still exists, sign in at SitePoint (sitepoint.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 SitePoint.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, 2 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:
- Wattpad, June 2020, 269 million accounts
- Wishbone (2020), January 2020, 9.7 million accounts
- 123RF, March 2020, 8.7 million accounts
- Animal Jam, October 2020, 7.1 million accounts
- LiveAuctioneers, June 2020, 3.4 million accounts
- NetGalley, December 2020, 1.4 million accounts
See Breaches for all 618, and Updates for keeping your devices patched.
References
- ^ Troy Hunt. “SitePoint”, Have I Been Pwned, added 17 Aug 2022. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.
External links
- Have I Been Pwned, to check your email address
- sitepoint.com, SitePoint’s website