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Gravatar data breach — are you affected?

In October 2020 a researcher published a technique to scrape Gravatar, the global avatar service, and 167 million profiles were collected and shared in hacking circles. The data contains names, usernames and MD5 hashes of email addresses, and about 114 million of those hashes were cracked back to the original address. It shows that hashing an email address does not make it anonymous.

Key facts
Verified
Breach date
3 October 2020
Accounts affected
113,990,759
Added to catalogue
5 December 2021
Website
gravatar.com

Data exposed

  • Email addresses, lower risk
  • Names, lower risk
  • Usernames, lower risk

Colour shows how damaging the data is if misused.Credentials, ID and bank dataContact and personal detailsOther profile data

What this means for you

Based on the types of data in this breach, in order of importance.

  • Expect more targeted phishing

    Your email address ties you to this service, which is enough for a believable message such as a fake account warning. Check the sender and the web address before you sign in, and go to the site directly instead of using links in email.

  • Limit what attackers can personalise

    Names, employers, job titles and social profiles make impersonation and spear-phishing easier. Check what your public profiles reveal, and be careful with unexpected requests that use your real name or workplace.

Check your own email address

Run a free self-assessment for an email address you own. VINDICIS checks it against infostealer logs and several public breach sources and shows a summary in seconds.

Built for your own addresses. It is not a tool to look up other people.

Run a free self-assessmentCheck a password

Related breaches

Breaches that exposed similar kinds of data.

Frequently asked questions

Was my data in the Gravatar breach?

Only a check of your own address can tell. If you had an account with Gravatar around 2020, assume it might be. Run the free self-assessment with an email address you own: VINDICIS checks it against several public breach sources and shows a summary in seconds. It is built for your own addresses, not for looking up other people.

What information was exposed in the Gravatar breach?

According to the Have I Been Pwned catalogue, the Gravatar breach affected 113,990,759 accounts and exposed: Email addresses, Names, Usernames. The incident dates from 3 October 2020.

What should I do if I had a Gravatar account?

Review the security settings of your Gravatar account and treat unexpected emails, texts or letters that mention Gravatar with suspicion. Delete the account if you no longer use it.

Is it safe to check my email address on VINDICIS?

Yes. The free scan is not stored or logged, results stay in memory for four hours at most, and your browser only talks to this site. The password checker hashes locally and sends only five characters of the hash, so the password never leaves your device.