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xat data breach

From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the November 2015 breach of xat. For every breach, see Breaches.

The xat data breach exposed 5,968,783 accounts from xat.com in November 2015. The data taken includes passwords, usernames, email addresses, IP addresses and website activity.[1]

Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 5 Aug 2016, 9 months later. It is the 180th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.

What was exposed

xat’s breach included 5 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.
IP addressesRoughly where you were when you used the service.
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, xat among them, without showing the data.
  2. Change your xat password.If the account still exists, sign in at xat (xat.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. Distrust messages that mention xat.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, 9 months later.

Similar breaches

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

  • R2Games, November 2015, 22 million accounts
  • Aternos, December 2015, 1.4 million accounts
  • OVH, May 2015, 452,899 accounts
  • Plex, July 2015, 327,314 accounts
  • Dailymotion, October 2016, 85 million accounts
  • Evony, June 2016, 29 million accounts

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

References

  1. ^ Troy Hunt. “xat”, Have I Been Pwned, added 5 Aug 2016. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.