Breach date: 2019-04-15. Added to this index: 2023-09-21. Accounts affected: about 23M. Domain: not listed.
What happened
In May 2019, news broke of a massive SMS spam operation known as "ApexSMS" which was discovered after a MongoDB instance of the same name was found exposed without a password. The incident leaked over 80M records with 23M unique email addresses alongside names, phone numbers and carriers, geographic locations (state and country), genders and IP addresses.
Breach data sourced from Have I Been Pwned, used under CC BY 4.0. Additional breach metadata provided by XposedOrNot. DataExposed is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.
What was exposed
Email addresses: The email address you used to register or log in. It is the most common field in breaches because it doubles as your username on most sites.
Genders: The gender or sex recorded on your profile, usually picked from a list at signup, sometimes with a title such as Mr or Ms or a gender identity option beyond male and female.
Geographic locations: A general location recorded on your account, such as a country, state, city, postcode or region, either typed in by you or estimated from your IP address.
IP addresses: The network addresses your devices used when you signed up, logged in or posted, recorded by almost every website in its access logs.
Names: Your first name, surname and sometimes middle name or initials, as you gave them when you signed up. It appears in almost every breach because nearly every account asks for it.
Phone numbers: Your mobile or landline number, collected at signup for contact, delivery updates, marketing and two-factor codes.
Telecommunications carrier: The name of your mobile or landline provider, sometimes with your plan type, account status or network, collected by apps, phone lookup services and marketing databases.
What to do now
Check whether your own address is in this dataset with the free email breach check.
Review the accounts connected to this service and turn on two-factor authentication.
Turn on two-factor authentication on your email account first, because it is the reset path for everything else.
Treat calls and messages that quote real details about you as hostile until you verify them another way.
Frequently asked questions
What data was leaked in the ApexSMS breach?
The ApexSMS breach exposed Email addresses, Genders, Geographic locations, IP addresses, Names, Phone numbers, Telecommunications carrier. About 23M accounts were affected.
Was I affected by the ApexSMS breach?
Run the free email breach check with the address you used on that service. It will tell you whether your address appears in this dataset.
What should I do about the ApexSMS breach?
Treat any message that quotes details from this breach as suspicious, turn on two-factor authentication, and consider removing your details from people-search sites if your address or phone was included.