Breach Database / Gravatar
Yes — Gravatar was breached.
- 114 million accounts affected
- Breach occurred 2020-10-03 · gravatar.com
- Verified entry in the Have I Been Pwned catalog
What happened
In October 2020, a security researcher published a technique for scraping large volumes of data from Gravatar, the service for providing globally unique avatars . 167 million names, usernames and MD5 hashes of email addresses used to reference users' avatars were subsequently scraped and distributed within the hacking community. 114 million of the MD5 hashes were cracked and distributed alongside the source hash, thus disclosing the original email address and accompanying data. Following the impacted email addresses being searchable in HIBP, Gravatar release an FAQ detailing the incident.
What data was exposed
- Email addresses
- Names
- Usernames
What to do right now
- Expect convincing phishing emails. Attackers use breached details to write personalized emails. Be suspicious of any message referencing this service.
- Check your other accounts on Have I Been Pwned. Your email address may appear in other breaches you don't know about yet.
- Monitor the apps you use going forward. Clearly watches the breach record for the companies behind your apps and alerts you the moment one appears.
Breach data from Have I Been Pwned. Listing here means the service appears in the public breach record — not that your personal data was affected.