The Kodi Foundation data breach

Breach date: 2023-02-16. Added to this index: 2023-04-13. Accounts affected: about 401K. Domain: kodi.tv.

What happened

In February 2023, The Kodi Foundation suffered a data breach that exposed more than 400k user records. Attributed to an account belonging to "a trusted but currently inactive member of the forum admin team", the breach involved the administrator account creating a database backup that was subsequently downloaded before being sold on a hacking forum. The breach exposed email and IP addresses, usernames, genders and passwords stored as MyBB salted hashes. The Kodi Foundation elected to self-submit impacted email addresses to HIBP.

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

  • Browser user agent details: A short text string your browser sends to every website, naming the browser, its version, the operating system and often the device type, for example Chrome on Windows or Safari on an iPhone.
  • Dates of birth: Your full birth date, day, month and year, collected at signup for age checks, identity verification, insurance quotes, birthday offers or government services.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Passwords: The secret you use to sign in, stored by the breached service either in plain text, in a scrambled form called a hash, or encrypted. How it was stored decides how quickly it can be recovered.
  • Private messages: Direct messages, chats and inbox conversations on a platform, which can include photos, links, attachments, addresses, phone numbers and details you shared expecting only one person to read.
  • Usernames: The handle or login name you chose for an account, which may be public on forums, games and social platforms or used privately to sign in.

What to do now

  1. Check whether your own address is in this dataset with the free email breach check.
  2. Change the password on this service and every other site where you used the same password.
  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 The Kodi Foundation breach?

The The Kodi Foundation breach exposed Browser user agent details, Dates of birth, Email addresses, IP addresses, Passwords, Private messages, Usernames. About 401K accounts were affected.

Was I affected by the The Kodi Foundation 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 The Kodi Foundation breach?

Change the password on that account and everywhere you reused it, then turn on two-factor authentication. Passwords from this breach are traded and tried automatically against other sites.

Next steps