Flash Flash Revolution Data Breach Exposed 1.8 Million User Accounts in February 2019

In February 2019, Flash Flash Revolution (FFR), an online platform best known for its music-based rhythm game and accompanying vBulletin-powered community forum, suffered a data breach that affected approximately 1.8 million user accounts. This breach led to the unauthorized access and exposure of user data, including usernames, email addresses, full birthdates, IP addresses, and securely hashed passwords. Both game players and forum members felt the impact, as much of the leaked information was connected to the platform’s vBulletin forum, a central hub for users to interact, share content, and discuss gameplay. The breach revealed a significant amount of personal and technical data, making it a noteworthy event in the gaming community’s security history.

What Happened in the Flash Flash Revolution Breach?

The incident took place in early February 2019 when attackers managed to obtain data from Flash Flash Revolution’s user database. This data largely encompassed forum accounts, which were closely tied to the user experience on the gaming site. The exposed records included sensitive fields like email addresses, full dates of birth, usernames, salted MD5 password hashes, IP addresses, linked social handles, and more. The hackers were able to access this information from the site’s vBulletin community system.

How Many Users Were Impacted?

In total, about 2,008,697 accounts were affected by the breach. Users who registered or interacted through the vBulletin-powered forum were included in this number, making it a wide-ranging incident for the Flash Flash Revolution community.

What Data Was Exposed?

The breach involved several data fields. The information made public included:

Username
Email address
Full date of birth
IP address
Salted MD5 password hash
URL and social handle fields from profiles
Password hash salt values

This data, collectively, represented both contact and partial authentication information for users.

Timeline of Events

The exposure was traced back to February 1, 2019. After the breach, details of the compromised data surfaced among cybersecurity professionals and within data breach monitoring circles, drawing attention to the scope and sensitivity of the leaked information. The event stands as a reminder of persistent security challenges faced by online gaming communities and forums, especially those using widely adopted platforms like vBulletin.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened in the Flash Flash Revolution data breach?

In February 2019, Flash Flash Revolution's database was accessed by unauthorized individuals. Personal account information including usernames, email addresses, birthdates, IP addresses, and salted password hashes for about 1.8 million users was exposed.

How many users were affected by the Flash Flash Revolution 2019 data breach?

Roughly 2,008,697 user accounts were involved in the breach, impacting most users of the platform's vBulletin forum.

What personal information was leaked in the Flash Flash Revolution breach?

The breach revealed usernames, email addresses, full birthdates, IP addresses, URL and social handle fields from user profiles, plus salted MD5 password hashes and their associated salts.

When did the Flash Flash Revolution data breach occur?

The breach took place in February 2019, with the exposed data dated around February 1, 2019.

How can I check if I'm in the Flash Flash Revolution breach?

You can check if your information was part of the Flash Flash Revolution breach by utilizing the DeHashed search engine.