CraftRise data breach: what happened and what to do
Reviewed by Anthon Wansland
Head of Product & Co-Founder
Serus is a privacy company with paid tools to find and remove your personal data. This page is free and based on official sources.
In May 2023, news broke of a breach at the Turkish Minecraft server CraftRise. Data on over 2.5 million users was shared on a hacking forum, with email addresses, usernames, geographic locations and plain text passwords. The newest records date from March 2022.
View all 13,118 breaches- Breach date
- 5 Mar 2022
- Affected
- 2,532,527
- Data exposed
- Email addresses, Geographic locations, Passwords, Usernames
- Verified
- Yes
- Last updated
Source: Have I Been Pwned (CC BY 4.0)
What happened
CraftRise is a Turkish Minecraft server. In May 2023 news broke of a data breach there, and the data of over 2.5M users was shared on a popular hacking forum. Have I Been Pwned says the newest records indicate the data was obtained in March 2022.
Sources checked: haveibeenpwned.com, consumer.ftc.gov, identitytheft.gov
Last verified against the official page:
What was exposed
The records held email addresses, usernames, geographic locations and passwords stored as plain text. Plain text means the passwords can be read as they are, with no cracking needed.
What criminals can do with it
The risk here is credential stuffing. Attackers take a leaked email and password pair and try it on other sites, because many people reuse the same login. An email linked to a username and a rough location also makes targeted phishing easier. Gaming accounts are often tied to payment details and to the same email as everything else, so a takeover can spread.
What to do
Change your CraftRise password and any account that used the same one, then turn on two-factor login on your email and your gaming accounts.
What to do if you were in it
- 1
Change the password, and every place you reused it
Change it on this site first, then on any account that used the same or a similar password. A password manager makes unique passwords easy. Start with your email account, because password resets for other accounts usually go there.
- 2
Turn on two-factor login
Use an authenticator app or passkey where the site offers one. It stops most account takeovers even when a password is already out there.
- 3
Expect phishing that mentions the breach
Scammers use leaked details like your username or email to sound convincing, and the FTC warns that they may pretend to be the breached company. Don't click links in messages about it. Contact the company through a phone number or website you already know. The FTC's breach guidance explains what to look for.
- 4
Check whether your email or phone is in this and other breaches
Run a free Serus scan. It checks breach databases for your email, phone and other details, and Serus keeps monitoring and alerts you when they show up in a new leak. It can't remove data from a breach, so the other steps still matter.
Frequently asked
Was I affected by the CraftRise breach?
Search your email on Have I Been Pwned, which holds this breach. If you had a CraftRise account around early 2022, assume it was included.
What was exposed?
Email addresses, usernames, geographic locations and passwords stored as plain text.
When did it happen?
News broke in May 2023, and Have I Been Pwned says the newest records indicate the data was obtained in March 2022.
Should I change my password?
Yes, and change it anywhere you reused it. The passwords were stored in plain text, so anyone with the data could read them.
Sources
- Have I Been Pwned: CraftRise
- Have I Been Pwned: CraftRise Data Breach · haveibeenpwned.com
- consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2022/10/have-you-been-affected-data-breach-read
- IdentityTheft.gov · identitytheft.gov
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