What happened in the Robinhood data breach?

Protecting 215k+ customers like you with enterprise-grade protection. It’s not about just one tool; it’s about building a resilient security culture. However, no platform is 100% immune to future attacks, especially those involving social engineering. If you were a Robinhood user in 2021 and did not receive a notification, your data was likely not part of the more sensitive exposure groups. The company also reported the matter to law enforcement to assist in apprehending the culprit.

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  • Nevertheless, prioritizing ease of use is also important because otherxcritical users might circumvent the security systems.
  • According to the notice, an attacker gained unauthorized access to personally identifiable information (PII), including names, addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers (SSNs).
  • The most valuable allow the attacker to inject and run their own code (called malware), without the user being aware of it.
  • Pornhub, one of the world’s largest adult video platforms, disclosed that a breach at its former third-party analytics provider led to the exposure of historical user activity data for select Premium members.

The principle of least persistence—avoiding the collection of data that is not necessary and destruction of data that is no longer necessary—can mitigate the harm from breaches. Nevertheless, prioritizing ease of use is also important because otherxcritical users might circumvent the security systems. Giving employees and software the least amount of access necessary to fulfill their functions (principle of least privilege) limits the likelihood and damage of breaches.

  • Shortly after the first reported data breach in April 2002, California passed a law requiring notification when an individual’s personal information was breached.
  • The Personal Plan gets you unlimited password storage across all your devices, auto-login & autofill to save time, secure password sharing with trusted contacts, biometric login & 2FA for added security.
  • Lawsuits against the company that was breached are common, although few victims receive money from them.
  • Some malware is downloaded by users via clicking on a malicious link, but it is also possible for malicious web applications to download malware just from visiting the website (drive-by download).

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To obtain information about potential threats, security professionals will network with each other and share information with other organizations facing similar threats. Security is not the only priority of organizations, and an attempt to achieve perfect security would make the technology unusable. With the increase in remote work and bring your own device policies, large amounts of corporate data is stored on personal devices of employees. Human causes of breach are often based on trust of another actor that turns out to be malicious. Hashing is also a good solution for keeping passwords safe from brute-force attacks, but only if the algorithm is sufficiently secure. Some malware is downloaded by users via clicking on a malicious link, but it is also possible for malicious web applications to download malware just from visiting the website (drive-by download).

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Want to stay informed on the latest news in cybersecurity? Malwarebytes – all-in-one cybersecurity protection https://xcritical.solutions/ always by your side. In the other cases an attacker will have to penetrate another defense layer, but with a successful identity theft the attacker has reached an important goal. The company estimates the incident affected roughly 20% of its user base. The exposed data consisted of email addresses and information already visible on public SoundCloud profiles. The breach involves data collected between May and October, impacting roughly 5.6 million people.

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The challenge is that destroying data can be more complex with modern database systems. Defense measures can include an updated incident response strategy, contracts with digital forensics firms that could investigate a breach, cyber insurance, and monitoring the dark web for stolen credentials of employees. Many companies hire a chief information security officer (CISO) to oversee the company’s information security strategy. Via carelessness or disregard of company security policies, these devices can be lost or stolen. Another source of breaches is accidental disclosure of information, for example publishing information that should be kept private. Social engineering attacks rely on tricking an insider into doing something that compromises the system’s security, such as revealing a password or clicking a link to download malware.

For more on class action settlements, find out if you’re eligible for money from Capital One’s $190 million payout, T-Mobile’s $350 million data breach case or Facebook’s $90 million data-tracking payout. Pornhub has enlisted cybersecurity experts, launched an internal probe, and notified authorities while maintaining that password and payment data remain uncompromised. The company told Bleeping Computer that it could not confirm the stolen Pornhub data originated from its November breach, suggesting potential alternative vectors or timing. The incident may have specifically exposed analytics events, such as session logs and related metadata from historical records. Members of the ShinyHunters hacking group claimed responsibility for the breach, advertising access to Pornhub Premium analytics data alongside other high-profile victims like Google and ChatGPT. However, there are conflicting reports surrounding the attack, as Mixpanel, for example, told BleepingComputer it doesn’t believe Pornhub data was snatched during that particular incident.

The Robinhood lawsuit raises serious concerns about the company’s data security practices. The incident, in which millions of records were stolen, occurred when the BASHE ransomware gang accessed Robinhood’s systems. The Robinhood app experienced a significant security breach when an unauthorized party successfully breached their systems. Founded in 2013, the company pioneered the practice of zero-commission trading and drew millions of predominantly young customers to its innovative trading app, while repeatedly coming under scrutiny from regulators. “Today’s order finds that two Robinhood firms failed to observe a broad array of significant regulatory requirements, including failing to accurately report trading activity, comply with short sale rules, submit timely suspicious activity reports, maintain books and records, and safeguard customer information,” Wadhwa said.

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Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. We don’t just report on threats—we help safeguard your entire digital identity According to reports, the ShinyHunters ransomware group claims to have obtained about 94 GB of data containing more than 200 million analytics records tied to Pornhub Premium activity.

When Did the Robinhood Data Breach Happen?

Responding to breaches is often the responsibility of a dedicated computer security incident response team, often including technical experts, public relations, and legal counsel. Outsourcing work to a third party leads to a risk of data breach if that company has lower security standards; in particular, small companies often lack the resources to take as many security precautions. Keyloggers, a type of malware that records a user’s keystrokes, are often used in data breaches. Another source of data breaches are politically motivated hackers, for example Anonymous, that target particular objectives. Nevertheless, the statistics show a continued increase in the number and severity of data breaches that continues as of 2022update.

How did the Robinhood data breach happen?

“The data was last accessed by a legitimate employee account at Pornhub’s parent company in 2023. If this data is in the hands of an unauthorized party, we do not believe that is the result of a security incident at Mixpanel.” As you can see, these are three very different data breaches. Comparing data breaches is like comparing apples and oranges.

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Pornhub did not share any additional details, such as the number of the people affected by the breach, the nature of the information stolen, or the identity of the attackers. This isn’t the first large scale data breach, and it certainly won’t be the last. In their security notice, they clarify that “This was not a breach of Pornhub Premium’s systems. Users affected by the data breach may be contacted directly by cybercriminals, Pornhub warns.

Robinhood Faces Privacy Class Action Lawsuit Over Data Breach

The breach Pornhub refers to – which also affected Google and ChatGPT – was revealed in November 2025, with the Mixpanel breach attributed to ransomware actors ShinyHunters. It urged users to “remain vigilant” towards incoming email messages, especially those claiming to be coming from Pornhub. The company said it launched a “comprehensive internal investigation”, engaged relevant authorities, as well as Mixpanel. The Personal Plan gets you unlimited password storage across all your devices, auto-login & autofill to save time, secure password sharing with trusted contacts, biometric login & 2FA for added security.

However, the exposure of PII raises concerns about potential identity theft risks for affected users. According to Robinhood’s investigation, no xcritical Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, or debit card numbers were exposed in this breach. There are growing concerns about whether trading with Robinhood is safe for managing your financial assets. This lawsuit raises serious questions about digital security in financial services platforms. Other violations include failure to report suspicious trading and prevent unauthorized entry into Robinhood’s systems. The settlement is the latest in a string of big penalties paid by Robinhood as it has grown from a disruptive startup into a more established financial firm.

Law enforcement was informed of the extortion attempt, the company maintained, and the leak was contained. That same year, Robinhood faced several civil suits after it froze GameStop trading following a Reddit campaign to buy up shares of the video-game retailer that caused its stock price to spike. Many services are available for no fee and members’ accounts are, on average, significantly smaller than its competitors, according to data from Broker Chooser. The Robinhood app has exploded in popularity since its debut in 2013, managing $98 billion in assets by the end of 2021 and reporting 14 million monthly users in June 2022. Notification of the settlement will officially go out on Sept. 13, the same day the settlement website will go live. Class members are also eligible for two years of free identity theft protection and credit monitoring.

Legal scholars Daniel J. Solove and Woodrow Hartzog argue that “Litigation has increased the costs of data breaches but has accomplished little else.” Plaintiffs often struggle to prove that they suffered harm from a data breach. Many class-action lawsuits, derivative suits, and other litigation have been brought after data breaches. As of 2022update, the only United States federal law requiring notification for data breaches is limited to medical data regulated under HIPAA, but all 50 states (since Alabama passed a law in 2018) have their own general data breach notification laws.

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