A major data breach has hit Pornhub Premium users, but the company says its own systems weren’t compromised. The incident traces back to Mixpanel, an analytics service that multiple tech companies use to track user behaviour. While Pornhub stopped working with Mixpanel back in 2021, customer data from that partnership has now surfaced in the hands of hackers. The breach initially came to light on November 8 and has since affected several companies, including OpenAI.
Pornhub confirmed the incident on December 12 and is now investigating how much user information was exposed.
What Information Did Hackers Steal From Pornhub Users
According to Bleeping Computer, a hacking group called ShinyHunters claims to possess 94GB of Pornhub Premium user data.
This includes over 200 million records with email addresses, viewing habits, video watch history, and location information. The stolen data also reveals which videos users downloaded and specific keywords tied to their viewing preferences.
ShinyHunters has been sending extortion emails to Mixpanel’s customers, threatening to publish the stolen information unless companies pay a ransom. The group even shared sample data with reporters to prove they have legitimate access to user records.
How Did The Pornhub Data Breach Happen
The situation gets complicated here. Mixpanel denies that the data came from the November security incident. The analytics company states that a legitimate employee account from Aylo, Pornhub’s parent company, last accessed this information in 2023.
Mixpanel suggests that if hackers now have this data, it didn’t leak from their systems. Pornhub maintains that the breach happened within Mixpanel’s environment and only impacted select Premium subscribers.
Aylo has warned customers to watch for suspicious emails and phishing attempts. This breach adds fuel to Pornhub’s ongoing concerns about age verification laws in 23 US states, where the company argues that collecting personal identification documents creates exactly these kinds of security risks.
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