Elasticsearch Instance of Sales Leads on AWS data breach

Breach date: 2018-10-29. Added to this index: 2018-11-17. Accounts affected: about 5.8M. Domain: not listed.

What happened

In October 2018, security researcher Bob Diachenko identified multiple exposed databases with hundreds of millions of records. One of those datasets was an Elasticsearch instance on AWS containing sales lead data and 5.8M unique email addresses. The data contained information relating to individuals and the companies they worked for including their names, email addresses and company name and contact information. Despite best efforts, it was not possible to identify the owner of the data hence this breach as been titled "Elasticsearch Sales Leads".

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.
  • Employers: The name of the company or organisation you work for, collected by professional networks, job sites, insurers, lenders and many signup forms.
  • 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.
  • Physical addresses: Your residential, postal, billing or delivery address, stored by retailers, utilities, banks, government services and almost any company that sends you something.

What to do now

  1. Check whether your own address is in this dataset with the free email breach check.
  2. Review the accounts connected to this service and turn on two-factor authentication.
  3. Turn on two-factor authentication on your email account first, because it is the reset path for everything else.
  4. 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 Elasticsearch Instance of Sales Leads on AWS breach?

The Elasticsearch Instance of Sales Leads on AWS breach exposed Email addresses, Employers, Names, Physical addresses. About 5.8M accounts were affected.

Was I affected by the Elasticsearch Instance of Sales Leads on AWS 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 Elasticsearch Instance of Sales Leads on AWS 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.

Next steps