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Data breaches → Adult FriendFinder (2015)

Was your data in the Adult FriendFinder (2015) breach?

2015 · adultfriendfinder.com · ~3,867,997 accounts exposedCritical severity · 10/10

Adult FriendFinder (2015) (adultfriendfinder.com) suffered a data breach in 2015 that exposed around 3,867,997 accounts. If you had an account, some of your personal data may be circulating in leaked databases. The fastest way to know is to check your own email — free, in about 30 seconds, no password required.

What happened

In May 2015, the adult hookup site Adult FriendFinder was hacked and nearly 4 million records dumped publicly. The data dump included extremely sensitive personal information about individuals and their relationship statuses and sexual preferences combined with personally identifiable information.

Breach details sourced from Have I Been Pwned, the industry-standard breach database. Risk analysis by Nullivo.

What was exposed, and why it matters

Not all breaches carry the same risk — what matters is which fields leaked. Here is what the Adult FriendFinder (2015) breach exposed and what each item actually enables:

Sensitive personal characteristics

Special-category data under UK/EU GDPR. Exposure can lead to discrimination, extortion or targeted harassment, and cannot be undone.

Dates of birth

Date of birth is a permanent identifier used to verify identity by phone. Combined with a name and address it is often enough to impersonate you.

Location data

Reveals where you live, work or travel, which supports both targeted scams and physical-safety risks.

Names and usernames

Links this leak to your other accounts — a reused username lets anyone build a profile of you across platforms.

Email addresses

Puts you on spam and phishing lists, and confirms to attackers that you hold an account with this service — which makes impersonation emails more believable.

IP addresses

Reveals your approximate location and internet provider, which adds credibility to targeted scams.

Also listed in this breach: Dates of birth, Email addresses, Genders, Geographic locations, IP addresses, Races, Relationship statuses, Sexual orientations, Spoken languages, Usernames.

What to do if you were affected

These steps are ordered for this specific breach — the most urgent action given what leaked comes first.

  1. Sensitive personal characteristics: Under UK/EU GDPR you have a strong right to erasure here — exercise it with the service and with any site republishing the data.
  2. Dates of birth: Never confirm your date of birth to an inbound caller — hang up and dial the organisation back on a published number.
  3. Location data: Review location sharing on the accounts you still hold with this service.
  4. Names and usernames: Search your usual username to see what else it exposes, and use distinct handles for sensitive accounts.
  5. Email addresses: Treat any message referencing this service with suspicion, and never act on links in unexpected emails.
  6. Check whether your own email appears in this breach — run a free scan to confirm before you spend time on the steps above.

This breach put your details on data-broker sites

Because Adult FriendFinder (2015) exposed sensitive personal characteristics, this is one of the breaches that feeds people-search and data-broker sites. Those sites scrape leaked databases, combine them with public records, and republish the result as a searchable profile — which is how a single breach turns into a permanent public listing. Removal works, but brokers typically re-list within about four months, so it has to be repeated.

See our broker-by-broker removal guides →

How urgent is this now?

This breach is over 11 years old. Old credentials still cause harm — leaked passwords from a decade ago are still tried against new accounts every day.

Remember: a breach can't be "un-leaked" — once a database is out, it exists in countless copies. The goal is to make the leaked data useless: change what can be changed, lock down what can't, and remove what has been republished.

Check if your email was exposed.Nullivo's free scan checks your own verified email against known breaches — including Adult FriendFinder (2015) — in 30 seconds. No password, no signup, and we only ever scan your own email. Run your free scan →

Frequently asked questions

What data was exposed in the Adult FriendFinder (2015) breach?

The Adult FriendFinder (2015) breach exposed sensitive personal characteristics, dates of birth, location data, names and usernames, email addresses, ip addresses. Special-category data under UK/EU GDPR. Exposure can lead to discrimination, extortion or targeted harassment, and cannot be undone.

How many people were affected by the Adult FriendFinder (2015) breach?

Around 3,867,997 accounts were exposed, making it a large breach.

What should I do if I had a Adult FriendFinder (2015) account?

Under UK/EU GDPR you have a strong right to erasure here — exercise it with the service and with any site republishing the data. You can check whether your own email appears in this breach with a free Nullivo scan — no password required.

Breaches that exposed similar data

If the Adult FriendFinder (2015) breach affected you, these breaches exposed comparable information — worth checking too, since leaked datasets are routinely combined.

See all breaches we cover →