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What happened in the Lead Hunter data breach?

What happened in the Lead Hunter data breach?

Twingate Team

Apr 17, 2024

In March 2020, the Lead Hunter data breach occurred, leaving a significant amount of personal information exposed. The breach, which could not be attributed to a specific source, involved data such as email addresses, phone numbers, names, and physical addresses. The incident raised concerns about data privacy and the security measures in place to protect sensitive information.

How many accounts were compromised?

The breach impacted data related to approximately 69 million individuals.

What data was leaked?

"The data exposed in the breach consisted of email addresses, genders, IP addresses, names, phone numbers, and physical addresses."

How was Lead Hunter hacked?

The Lead Hunter data breach occurred due to an exposed Elasticsearch instance, which allowed hackers to access the data. Additionally, it appears that the data may have been scraped from WHOIS, a query and response protocol for databases storing registered users or assignees of Internet resources. The responsible party for obtaining and exposing the data has not been identified.

Lead Hunter's solution

In response to the Lead Hunter data breach, specific enhanced security measures taken by the company have not been publicly disclosed. However, individuals affected by the breach can take steps to protect their personal information. These steps include using a VPN to mask IP addresses, avoiding sharing phone numbers, using an email mask, avoiding using addresses in passwords, creating unique and strong passwords for every account, storing passwords securely, being cautious about giving out personal information, and regularly updating software and apps.

How do I know if I was affected?

It is unclear whether Lead Hunter reached out to affected users following the data breach. If you believe you may have been affected, you can check if your credentials were compromised by visiting HaveIBeenPwned.

What should affected users do?

In general, affected users should:

  • Change Your Passwords: Immediately update your passwords for any accounts that may have been compromised. Ensure that the new passwords are strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.

  • Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.

  • Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on any affected accounts. Consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

  • Monitor Your Accounts: Keep an eye on your accounts for any suspicious activity and report it immediately to the respective platform.

For specific advice on dealing with Lead Hunter's data breach, please contact Lead Hunter's support directly.

Where can I go to learn more?

If you want to find more information on the Lead Hunter data breach, check out the following news articles:

Rapidly implement a modern Zero Trust network that is more secure and maintainable than VPNs.

/

What happened in the Lead Hunter data breach?

What happened in the Lead Hunter data breach?

Twingate Team

Apr 17, 2024

In March 2020, the Lead Hunter data breach occurred, leaving a significant amount of personal information exposed. The breach, which could not be attributed to a specific source, involved data such as email addresses, phone numbers, names, and physical addresses. The incident raised concerns about data privacy and the security measures in place to protect sensitive information.

How many accounts were compromised?

The breach impacted data related to approximately 69 million individuals.

What data was leaked?

"The data exposed in the breach consisted of email addresses, genders, IP addresses, names, phone numbers, and physical addresses."

How was Lead Hunter hacked?

The Lead Hunter data breach occurred due to an exposed Elasticsearch instance, which allowed hackers to access the data. Additionally, it appears that the data may have been scraped from WHOIS, a query and response protocol for databases storing registered users or assignees of Internet resources. The responsible party for obtaining and exposing the data has not been identified.

Lead Hunter's solution

In response to the Lead Hunter data breach, specific enhanced security measures taken by the company have not been publicly disclosed. However, individuals affected by the breach can take steps to protect their personal information. These steps include using a VPN to mask IP addresses, avoiding sharing phone numbers, using an email mask, avoiding using addresses in passwords, creating unique and strong passwords for every account, storing passwords securely, being cautious about giving out personal information, and regularly updating software and apps.

How do I know if I was affected?

It is unclear whether Lead Hunter reached out to affected users following the data breach. If you believe you may have been affected, you can check if your credentials were compromised by visiting HaveIBeenPwned.

What should affected users do?

In general, affected users should:

  • Change Your Passwords: Immediately update your passwords for any accounts that may have been compromised. Ensure that the new passwords are strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.

  • Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.

  • Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on any affected accounts. Consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

  • Monitor Your Accounts: Keep an eye on your accounts for any suspicious activity and report it immediately to the respective platform.

For specific advice on dealing with Lead Hunter's data breach, please contact Lead Hunter's support directly.

Where can I go to learn more?

If you want to find more information on the Lead Hunter data breach, check out the following news articles:

Rapidly implement a modern Zero Trust network that is more secure and maintainable than VPNs.

What happened in the Lead Hunter data breach?

Twingate Team

Apr 17, 2024

In March 2020, the Lead Hunter data breach occurred, leaving a significant amount of personal information exposed. The breach, which could not be attributed to a specific source, involved data such as email addresses, phone numbers, names, and physical addresses. The incident raised concerns about data privacy and the security measures in place to protect sensitive information.

How many accounts were compromised?

The breach impacted data related to approximately 69 million individuals.

What data was leaked?

"The data exposed in the breach consisted of email addresses, genders, IP addresses, names, phone numbers, and physical addresses."

How was Lead Hunter hacked?

The Lead Hunter data breach occurred due to an exposed Elasticsearch instance, which allowed hackers to access the data. Additionally, it appears that the data may have been scraped from WHOIS, a query and response protocol for databases storing registered users or assignees of Internet resources. The responsible party for obtaining and exposing the data has not been identified.

Lead Hunter's solution

In response to the Lead Hunter data breach, specific enhanced security measures taken by the company have not been publicly disclosed. However, individuals affected by the breach can take steps to protect their personal information. These steps include using a VPN to mask IP addresses, avoiding sharing phone numbers, using an email mask, avoiding using addresses in passwords, creating unique and strong passwords for every account, storing passwords securely, being cautious about giving out personal information, and regularly updating software and apps.

How do I know if I was affected?

It is unclear whether Lead Hunter reached out to affected users following the data breach. If you believe you may have been affected, you can check if your credentials were compromised by visiting HaveIBeenPwned.

What should affected users do?

In general, affected users should:

  • Change Your Passwords: Immediately update your passwords for any accounts that may have been compromised. Ensure that the new passwords are strong and unique, not previously used on any other platform.

  • Reset Passwords for Other Accounts: If you've used the same or similar passwords for other online accounts, reset those as well. This is crucial as attackers often try using stolen passwords on multiple sites.

  • Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Activate 2FA on any affected accounts. Consider enabling this additional security feature on all other important online accounts to significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

  • Monitor Your Accounts: Keep an eye on your accounts for any suspicious activity and report it immediately to the respective platform.

For specific advice on dealing with Lead Hunter's data breach, please contact Lead Hunter's support directly.

Where can I go to learn more?

If you want to find more information on the Lead Hunter data breach, check out the following news articles: