Data breaches → Tianya
Was your data in the Tianya breach?
2011 · tianya.cn · ~29,020,808 accounts exposedLow severity · 3/10
Tianya (tianya.cn) suffered a data breach in 2011 that exposed around 29,020,808 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 December 2011, China's largest online forum known as Tianya was hacked and tens of millions of accounts were obtained by the attacker. The leaked data included names, usernames and email addresses.
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 Tianya breach exposed and what each item actually enables:
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.
Also listed in this breach: Email addresses, Names, 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.
- Names and usernames: Search your usual username to see what else it exposes, and use distinct handles for sensitive accounts.
- Email addresses: Treat any message referencing this service with suspicion, and never act on links in unexpected emails.
- Check whether your own email appears in this breach — run a free scan to confirm before you spend time on the steps above.
How urgent is this now?
This breach is over 15 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.
Frequently asked questions
What data was exposed in the Tianya breach?
The Tianya breach exposed names and usernames, email addresses. Links this leak to your other accounts — a reused username lets anyone build a profile of you across platforms.
How many people were affected by the Tianya breach?
Around 29,020,808 accounts were exposed, making it a very large breach by any measure.
What should I do if I had a Tianya account?
Search your usual username to see what else it exposes, and use distinct handles for sensitive accounts. 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 Tianya breach affected you, these breaches exposed comparable information — worth checking too, since leaked datasets are routinely combined.
- Was your data in the Neopets breach? (2013, ~26,892,897 accounts)
- Was your data in the Yam breach? (2013, ~13,258,797 accounts)
- Was your data in the JobStreet breach? (2012, ~3,883,455 accounts)
- Was your data in the Stratfor breach? (2011, ~859,777 accounts)
- Was your data in the BookCrossing breach? (2012, ~1,582,323 accounts)
- Was your data in the Lookbook breach? (2012, ~1,074,948 accounts)