Nullivo

Data breaches → Thingiverse

Was your data in the Thingiverse breach?

2020 · thingiverse.com · ~228,102 accounts exposedCritical severity · 10/10

Thingiverse (thingiverse.com) suffered a data breach in 2020 that exposed around 228,102 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 October 2021, a database backup taken from the 3D model sharing service Thingiverse began extensively circulating within the hacking community. Dating back to October 2020, the 36GB file contained 228 thousand unique email addresses, mostly alongside comments left on 3D models. The data also included usernames, IP addresses, full names and passwords stored as either unsalted SHA-1 or bcrypt hashes. In some cases, physical addresses was also exposed. Thingiverse's owner, MakerBot, is aware of the incident but at the time of writing, is yet to issue a disclosure statement. The data was provided to HIBP by dehashed.com.

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 Thingiverse breach exposed and what each item actually enables:

Passwords

Attackers replay leaked passwords across other sites (“credential stuffing”). Because most people reuse passwords, one leak often unlocks email, shopping and banking accounts elsewhere.

Home addresses

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.

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.

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, IP addresses, Names, Passwords, Physical addresses, 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. Passwords: Change this password everywhere you have reused it, starting with your email account — whoever controls your email can reset everything else.
  2. Home addresses: Get your address removed from data brokers — they re-list roughly every four months, so this needs repeating.
  3. Dates of birth: Never confirm your date of birth to an inbound caller — hang up and dial the organisation back on a published number.
  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 Thingiverse 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 6 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.

Check if your email was exposed.Nullivo's free scan checks your own verified email against known breaches — including Thingiverse — 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 Thingiverse breach?

The Thingiverse breach exposed passwords, 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 Thingiverse breach?

Around 228,102 accounts were exposed, making it a mid-sized breach.

What should I do if I had a Thingiverse 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 Thingiverse breach affected you, these breaches exposed comparable information — worth checking too, since leaked datasets are routinely combined.

See all breaches we cover →