Was your data in the YouNow 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.
YouNow (younow.com) suffered a data breach in 2019 that exposed around 18,241,518 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 2019, data from the live broadcasting service YouNow appeared for sale on a dark web marketplace. Whilst it's not clear what date the actual breach occurred on, the impacted data included 18M unique email addresses, IP addresses, names, usernames and links to social media profiles. As authentication is performed via social providers, no passwords were exposed in the breach. Many records didn't have associated email addresses thus the unique number is lower than the reported total number of accounts.
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 YouNow breach exposed and what each item actually enables:
Also listed in this breach: Email addresses, IP addresses, Names, Social media profiles, 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. - IP addresses
No direct action needed, but be wary of anyone quoting your location as “proof” of identity. - 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 7 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 YouNow breach?
The YouNow breach exposed names and usernames, email addresses, ip 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 YouNow breach?
Around 18,241,518 accounts were exposed, making it a very large breach by any measure.
What should I do if I had a YouNow 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 YouNow breach affected you, these breaches exposed comparable information — worth checking too, since leaked datasets are routinely combined.