- Total Records270,884,317
- Unique Emails269,429,359
- Unique Email Providers961,520
- Unique Usernames273,568,228
- Unique First Names92,137,312
- Unique Addresses3,391,102
The 2020 Wattpad Data Breach: What Happened and What Was Exposed?
On June 29, 2020, Wattpad, a popular platform for readers and writers to share stories and connect, became the focus of a widespread data breach. This security incident resulted in nearly 271 million records being leaked. The scale of the compromise and the type of user data involved drew considerable attention. Attackers managed to access a significant array of personal user information, including usernames, full names, email addresses, IP addresses, gender, birthdates, and encrypted passwords. At first, this stolen data was quietly offered for sale to interested buyers. However, it eventually found its way onto a public hacking forum, making the data easily accessible to anyone who knew where to look. The event highlighted vulnerabilities in even the most well-known online platforms and had implications for millions of Wattpad's global userbase.
What Data Was Exposed in the Wattpad Breach?
The breach impacted a broad range of personal and account-related information stored by Wattpad. Data fields compromised in the incident included:
- Username
- Email address
- Hashed (encrypted) password
- IP address
- Full name
- State and country of address
- Profile or story URL
- Linked social accounts (social)
- Phone number
- Full birthdate
This extensive range of data put many users at risk of unwanted contact, account compromise on other sites, and exposure of their private details online.
How Many Users Were Impacted?
The total number of affected records stood at slightly over 270 million. While not every field was filled for every user, the breach remains among the largest recorded in the creative writing and storytelling community.
The Timeline of the Wattpad Breach
- June 29, 2020: Wattpad's systems were breached, and attackers accessed millions of user records.
- In the days and weeks following, the stolen data was quietly offered for sale on illicit marketplaces.
- Soon after, the data surfaced on public hacking forums, broadly increasing its exposure and raising the incident’s profile.
FAQ: Common Questions About the Wattpad Data Breach
What happened in the 2020 Wattpad data breach?
Wattpad suffered a major data breach where attackers accessed and leaked nearly 271 million user records, including emails, usernames, encrypted passwords, IP addresses, and more. The data was first sold and then published on a public hacking forum.
How many users were affected by the Wattpad breach?
Approximately 270,884,318 records were involved in the breach, impacting a large segment of Wattpad’s user community worldwide.
What personal information was included in the Wattpad data leak?
The breach involved usernames, email addresses, hashed passwords, full names, birthdates, IP addresses, country and state information, social links, phone numbers, and more.
Who was responsible for the Wattpad hack?
The specific individuals or group behind the Wattpad breach have not been publicly identified as of this writing. The stolen data was first offered privately for sale, then leaked on a public forum.
How can I check if I'm in the Wattpad data breach?
You can check if your information was part of the Wattpad breach by utilizing the DeHashed search engine.