Breach date: 2015-10-01. Added to this index: 2015-10-02. Accounts affected: about 2.3M. Domain: patreon.com.
What happened
In October 2015, the crowdfunding site Patreon was hacked and over 16GB of data was released publicly. The dump included almost 14GB of database records with more than 2.3M unique email addresses, millions of personal messages and passwords stored as bcrypt hashes.
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.
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.
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.
Physical addresses: Your residential, postal, billing or delivery address, stored by retailers, utilities, banks, government services and almost any company that sends you something.
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.
Website activity: Records of your actions on a website or app, such as pages viewed, searches, clicks, downloads, logins, cart activity, IP addresses and timestamps.
What to do now
Check whether your own address is in this dataset with the free email breach check.
Change the password on this service and every other site where you used the same password.
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 Patreon breach?
The Patreon breach exposed Email addresses, Passwords, Payment histories, Physical addresses, Private messages, Website activity. About 2.3M accounts were affected.
Was I affected by the Patreon 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 Patreon 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.