- Total Records16,290,791
- Unique Emails13,264,386
- Unique Email Providers15,634
- Unique Usernames21,742,012
- Unique First Names4,916,264
- Unique Addresses2,833,918
Yam.com Data Breach: What Happened and What Was Exposed in 2013
In June 2013, the Taiwanese social networking and web portal Yam.com suffered a significant data breach that exposed the personal information of over 16 million users. The incident led to the leak of usernames, hashed passwords, full names, birthdates, phone numbers, email addresses, complete addresses, and various social details. Although the breach initially went under the radar, the stolen database surfaced publicly years later in 2021 on a hacking forum, drawing renewed attention to the scope and sensitivity of the information involved. Yam.com’s reach extended across Taiwan, making this breach one of the larger security incidents in the region’s web history.
What Information Was Leaked?
The breached Yam.com database included a broad range of personal data:
- Usernames
- Hashed passwords
- Full names
- Full birthdates
- Phone numbers
- Full addresses
- Email addresses
- Associated social information
This collection of data made the breach particularly severe given the completeness of many users' profiles.
How Many Accounts Were Affected?
The attack resulted in the exposure of just over 16 million unique records, putting a vast number of Taiwanese internet users at risk of ongoing privacy and security issues years after the initial compromise.
A Timeline of the Yam.com Breach
- June 2013: Attackers compromised Yam.com’s systems and extracted a copy of the user database.
- 2013–2021: The breach was not publicly reported, and the stolen data remained out of common circulation for several years.
- 2021: The compromised records from Yam.com appeared for download on a hacking forum, making the incident and its scale widely known.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Yam.com Breach
What happened in the Yam.com data breach?
In June 2013, attackers accessed Yam.com’s user database, stealing sensitive information like usernames, hashed passwords, full names, birthdates, emails, phone numbers, addresses, and social information. The breach was later publicized in 2021 when the records appeared on a hacking forum.
How many users were affected by the Yam.com breach?
More than 16.2 million user records from Yam.com were exposed in the 2013 breach, making it one of the largest known data leaks affecting a Taiwanese platform.
What data was leaked in the Yam.com breach?
The leaked data included usernames, hashed passwords, full names, dates of birth, phone numbers, full addresses, email addresses, and assorted social information belonging to users of Yam.com.
Who was behind the Yam.com data breach?
The identity of the attackers responsible for the Yam.com breach remains unknown, as is often the case with large-scale breaches from that era.
How can I check if I'm in the Yam.com breach?
You can check if your information was part of the Yam.com breach by utilizing the DeHashed search engine.