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MyHeritage data breach — are you affected?

MyHeritage, the genealogy service, was breached in October 2017 and disclosed the incident about seven months later after a researcher found the data. More than 92 million records were affected, each with an email address and a salted SHA-1 password hash. Only credentials were exposed, not family-tree data.

Key facts
Verified
Breach date
26 October 2017
Accounts affected
91,991,358
Added to catalogue
20 February 2019
Website
myheritage.com

Data exposed

  • Passwords, high risk
  • Email addresses, 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.

  • Change the password and turn on two-factor authentication

    Passwords or password hashes were part of this breach. Change the password on this service and on every site where you reused it, use a unique password for each account from a password manager, and enable two-factor authentication. You can test a password without sending it anywhere with the password checker.

  • 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.

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 MyHeritage breach?

Only a check of your own address can tell. If you had an account with MyHeritage around 2017, 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 MyHeritage breach?

According to the Have I Been Pwned catalogue, the MyHeritage breach affected 91,991,358 accounts and exposed: Passwords, Email addresses. The incident dates from 26 October 2017.

What should I do if I had a MyHeritage account?

Change your MyHeritage password and the password of every account that shared it, and turn on two-factor authentication. Treat unexpected emails, texts or letters that mention MyHeritage with suspicion, and 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.