What Happened

In April 2023, the stolen identity marketplace Genesis Market was shut down by the FBI and a coalition of law enforcement agencies across the globe in "Operation Cookie Monster". The service traded in "browser fingerprints" which enabled criminals to impersonate victims and access their online services. As many of the impacted accounts did not include email addresses, "8M" is merely an approximation intended to indicate scale. Other personal data compromised by the service included names, addresses and credit card information, although not all individuals had each of these fields exposed.

Compromised Data

Browser user agent details
Credit card CVV
Credit cards
Dates of birth
Email addresses
Names
Passwords
Phone numbers
Physical addresses
Usernames

Recommended Actions

Change Your Password

If you haven't changed your password on this service since the breach, do so immediately.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

If 2FA is supported, add an extra layer of security to your account.

Check Other Accounts

If you used the same password elsewhere, change those too.

Monitor for Suspicious Activity

Watch for unusual login attempts, spam and phishing emails.

1Password

Use 1Password to generate and store strong, unique passwords for all your accounts.

Try 1Password

Breach Overview

  • Affected Accounts:

    8 million

  • Breach Occurred:

    April 2023

  • Added to HIBP:

    5 Apr 2023

Breach Classification

HIBP enables you to discover if your account was exposed in most of the data breaches by directly searching the system. However, certain breaches are particularly sensitive in that someone's presence in the breach may adversely impact them if others are able to find that they were a member of the site.

A sensitive data breach can only be searched by the verified owner of the email address being searched for. This is done via the notification system which involves sending a verification email to the address with a unique link.

There are presently 74 sensitive breaches in the system including Adult FriendFinder, Ashley Madison, and others.

Recommended Actions

Change Your Password

If you haven't changed your Genesis Market password since 2023, do so immediately.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

Add an extra layer of security to your account.

Check Other Accounts

If you used the same password elsewhere, change those too.

Monitor for Suspicious Activity

Watch for unusual login attempts or messages from your account.

1Password

Use 1Password to generate and store strong, unique passwords for all your accounts.

Try 1Password