Was your data in the Bell (2014 breach) breach?
Check whether your email address was in it
Check my exposureFree. No password — we email you a six-digit code. This breach and every other one your address appears in.
Bell (2014 breach) (bell.ca) suffered a data breach in 2014 that exposed around 20,902 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 February 2014, Bell Canada suffered a data breach via the hacker collective known as NullCrew. The breach included data from multiple locations within Bell and exposed email addresses, usernames, user preferences and a number of unencrypted passwords and credit card data from 40,000 records containing just over 20,000 unique email addresses and usernames.
Breach record from Have I Been Pwned, CC BY 4.0. 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 Bell (2014 breach) breach exposed and what each item actually enables:
Also listed in this breach: Credit cards, Genders, Passwords, 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.
- Payment or bank details
Contact your bank, ask them to monitor or reissue the card, and check statements for small “test” transactions. - Passwords
Change this password everywhere you have reused it, starting with your email account — whoever controls your email can reset everything else. - Names and usernames
Search your usual username to see what else it exposes, and use distinct handles for sensitive accounts. - Confirm you were actually in it
Run a free scan before you spend time on the steps above.
How urgent is this now?
This breach is over 12 years old. Old credentials still cause harm — leaked passwords from a decade ago are still tried against new accounts every day.
Passwords are the reason breach age matters less than people expect. Leaked credentials are compiled into wordlists that get tried against new services for years afterwards, so a password exposed here is unsafe to use anywhere, ever again.
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.
Frequently asked questions
What data was exposed in the Bell (2014 breach) breach?
The Bell (2014 breach) breach exposed payment or bank details, passwords, names and usernames. Direct financial fraud, plus convincing scam calls that quote your real card or account details to establish trust.
How many people were affected by the Bell (2014 breach) breach?
Around 20,902 accounts were exposed, making it a smaller, more targeted breach.
What should I do if I had a Bell (2014 breach) account?
Contact your bank, ask them to monitor or reissue the card, and check statements for small “test” transactions. 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 Bell (2014 breach) breach affected you, these breaches exposed comparable information — worth checking too, since leaked datasets are routinely combined.