Breach date: 2019-02-15. Added to this index: 2019-07-18. Accounts affected: about 18M. Domain: younow.com.
What happened
In February 2019, data from the live broadcasting service YouNow appeared for sale on a dark web marketplace. Whilst it's not clear what date the actual breach occurred on, the impacted data included 18M unique email addresses, IP addresses, names, usernames and links to social media profiles. As authentication is performed via social providers, no passwords were exposed in the breach. Many records didn't have associated email addresses thus the unique number is lower than the reported total number of accounts.
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.
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.
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.
Social media profiles: Usernames, profile URLs or handles for social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn or Discord, stored alongside another account.
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
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 YouNow breach?
The YouNow breach exposed Email addresses, IP addresses, Names, Social media profiles, Usernames. About 18M accounts were affected.
Was I affected by the YouNow 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 YouNow 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.