MySpace data breach — are you affected?
Around 2008 MySpace lost almost 360 million accounts; the data went on sale on a dark market site in May 2016. It contains email addresses, usernames and SHA-1 hashes of only the first ten characters of the password, lower-cased and unsalted, which made them very quick to crack. A very old leak, still relevant for people who never retired the password.
- Breach date
- 1 July 2008
- Accounts affected
- 359,420,698
- Added to catalogue
- 31 May 2016
- Website
- myspace.com
Data exposed
- Passwords, high risk
- Email addresses, 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.
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.
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.
Related breaches
Breaches that exposed similar kinds of data.
Dailymotion
2016 · dailymotion.com
85,176,234 accounts
- Passwords, high risk
- Email addresses, lower risk
Edmodo
2017 · edmodo.com
43,423,561 accounts
- Passwords, high risk
- Email addresses, lower risk
Internet Archive
2024 · archive.org
31,081,179 accounts
- Passwords, high risk
- Email addresses, lower risk
Disqus
2012 · disqus.com
17,551,044 accounts
- Passwords, high risk
- Email addresses, lower risk
Frequently asked questions
Was my data in the MySpace breach?
Only a check of your own address can tell. If you had an account with MySpace around 2008, 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 MySpace breach?
According to the Have I Been Pwned catalogue, the MySpace breach affected 359,420,698 accounts and exposed: Passwords, Email addresses, Usernames. The incident dates from 1 July 2008.
What should I do if I had a MySpace account?
Change your MySpace password and the password of every account that shared it, and turn on two-factor authentication. Treat unexpected emails, texts or letters that mention MySpace 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.
