Breach date: 2024-06-20. Added to this index: 2024-11-04. Accounts affected: about 9.7M. Domain: z-lib.is.
What happened
In June 2024, almost 10M user records from Z-lib were discovered exposed online. Now defunct, Z-lib was a malicious clone of Z-Library, a well-known shadow online platform for pirating books and academic papers. The exposed data included usernames, email addresses, countries of residence, Bitcoin and Monero cryptocurrency wallet addresses, purchases and bcrypt password 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
Cryptocurrency wallet addresses: The public address used to receive cryptocurrency, such as a Bitcoin or Ethereum address, stored by an exchange, a hardware wallet seller, a payment service or a crypto app.
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.
Geographic locations: A general location recorded on your account, such as a country, state, city, postcode or region, either typed in by you or estimated from your IP address.
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.
Purchases: Records of items or services you bought, often with order numbers, prices, dates, delivery addresses and the store or seller involved.
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.
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 Z-lib breach?
The Z-lib breach exposed Cryptocurrency wallet addresses, Email addresses, Geographic locations, Passwords, Purchases, Usernames. About 9.7M accounts were affected.
Was I affected by the Z-lib 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 Z-lib 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.