Breach date: 2021-01-20. Added to this index: 2021-03-02. Accounts affected: about 1.8M. Domain: oxfam.org.au.
What happened
In January 2021, Oxfam Australia was the victim of a data breach which exposed 1.8M unique email addresses of supporters of the charity. The data was put up for sale on a popular hacking forum and also included names, phone numbers, addresses, genders and dates of birth. A small number of people also had partial credit card data exposed (the first 6 and last 3 digits of the card, plus card type and expiry) and in some cases the bank name, account number and BSB were also exposed. The data was subsequently made freely available on the hacking forum later the following month.
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
Bank account numbers: The number that identifies your account at a bank, usually stored with a sort code, routing number or BSB so a payment can be made or collected.
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.
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.
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.
Partial credit card data: Fragments of a payment card rather than the full number, typically the first six or last four digits, the card brand, the expiry date or the cardholder name.
Payment histories: A list of past payments linked to your account: dates, amounts, merchants, invoice numbers and sometimes the method used. It is held by billing platforms, subscription services, utilities and payment processors.
Phone numbers: Your mobile or landline number, collected at signup for contact, delivery updates, marketing and two-factor codes.
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
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 Oxfam breach?
The Oxfam breach exposed Bank account numbers, Dates of birth, Email addresses, Genders, Names, Partial credit card data, Payment histories, Phone numbers, Physical addresses. About 1.8M accounts were affected.
Was I affected by the Oxfam 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 Oxfam 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.