Breach Database / The Heritage Foundation
Yes — The Heritage Foundation was breached.
- 72,004 accounts affected
- Breach occurred 2024-07-09 · heritage.org
- Verified entry in the Have I Been Pwned catalog
What happened
In July 2024, hacktivists published almost 2GB of data taken from The Heritage Foundation and their media arm, The Daily Signal. The data contained 72k unique email addresses, primarily used for commenting on articles (along with names, IP addresses and the comments left) and by content contributors (along with usernames and passwords stored as either MD5 or phpass hashes).
What data was exposed
- Email addresses
- IP addresses
- Names
- Passwords
- Usernames
What to do right now
- Change your password for this service now. And change it anywhere you reused the same password — attackers try leaked passwords on other sites within hours ("credential stuffing").
- Turn on two-factor authentication. Even a leaked password is useless against an account protected by a second factor. Prefer an authenticator app over SMS.
- 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.