Data breaches → ClixSense
Was your data in the ClixSense breach?
2016 · clixsense.com · ~2,424,784 accounts exposedCritical severity · 10/10
ClixSense (clixsense.com) suffered a data breach in 2016 that exposed around 2,424,784 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 September 2016, the paid-to-click site ClixSense suffered a data breach which exposed 2.4 million subscriber identities. The breached data was then posted online by the attackers who claimed it was a subset of a larger data breach totalling 6.6 million records. The leaked data was extensive and included names, physical, email and IP addresses, genders and birth dates, account balances and passwords stored as plain text.
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 ClixSense breach exposed and what each item actually enables:
Attackers replay leaked passwords across other sites (“credential stuffing”). Because most people reuse passwords, one leak often unlocks email, shopping and banking accounts elsewhere.
Direct financial fraud, plus convincing scam calls that quote your real card or account details to establish trust.
Home addresses feed people-search and data-broker sites, which republish them publicly. They also make phishing far more convincing and, in the worst cases, enable real-world harassment.
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.
Links this leak to your other accounts — a reused username lets anyone build a profile of you across platforms.
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.
Reveals your approximate location and internet provider, which adds credibility to targeted scams.
Also listed in this breach: Account balances, Dates of birth, Email addresses, Genders, IP addresses, Names, Passwords, Payment histories, Payment methods, Physical addresses, Usernames, Website activity.
What to do if you were affected
These steps are ordered for this specific breach — the most urgent action given what leaked comes first.
- Passwords: Change this password everywhere you have reused it, starting with your email account — whoever controls your email can reset everything else.
- Payment or bank details: Contact your bank, ask them to monitor or reissue the card, and check statements for small “test” transactions.
- Home addresses: Get your address removed from data brokers — they re-list roughly every four months, so this needs repeating.
- Dates of birth: Never confirm your date of birth to an inbound caller — hang up and dial the organisation back on a published number.
- Names and usernames: Search your usual username to see what else it exposes, and use distinct handles for sensitive accounts.
- 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 ClixSense exposed home addresses, 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 10 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 ClixSense breach?
The ClixSense breach exposed passwords, payment or bank details, home addresses, dates of birth, names and usernames, email addresses, ip addresses. Attackers replay leaked passwords across other sites (“credential stuffing”). Because most people reuse passwords, one leak often unlocks email, shopping and banking accounts elsewhere.
How many people were affected by the ClixSense breach?
Around 2,424,784 accounts were exposed, making it a large breach.
What should I do if I had a ClixSense account?
Change this password everywhere you have reused it, starting with your email account — whoever controls your email can reset everything else. 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 ClixSense breach affected you, these breaches exposed comparable information — worth checking too, since leaked datasets are routinely combined.
- Was your data in the Ashley Madison breach? (2015, ~30,811,934 accounts)
- Was your data in the gPotato breach? (2007, ~2,136,520 accounts)
- Was your data in the Foxy Bingo breach? (2008, ~252,216 accounts)
- Was your data in the VNG breach? (2015, ~24,853,850 accounts)
- Was your data in the Animal Jam breach? (2020, ~7,104,998 accounts)
- Was your data in the Neteller breach? (2010, ~3,619,948 accounts)