Wishbone (2016) data breach

Breach date: 2016-08-07. Added to this index: 2017-03-15. Accounts affected: about 2.2M. Domain: wishbone.io.

What happened

In August 2016, the mobile app to "compare anything" known as Wishbone suffered a data breach. The data contained 9.4 million records with 2.2 million unique email addresses and was allegedly a subset of the complete data set. The exposed data included genders, birthdates, email addresses and phone numbers for an audience predominantly composed of teenagers and young adults.

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

  • Auth tokens: Strings a service issues after you log in, session cookies, API keys, refresh tokens or reset links, that prove to the server you are already signed in.
  • 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.
  • Phone numbers: Your mobile or landline number, collected at signup for contact, delivery updates, marketing and two-factor codes.
  • 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. 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 Wishbone (2016) breach?

The Wishbone (2016) breach exposed Auth tokens, Dates of birth, Email addresses, Genders, Names, Phone numbers, Usernames. About 2.2M accounts were affected.

Was I affected by the Wishbone (2016) 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 Wishbone (2016) 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