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Brazzers Porn Forum Hacked, User Data Exposed

The leaked data originated from a breach of the Brazzers forum, where users go to discuss porn scenes.

 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

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If you made an account on the porn site Brazzers in recent years, we hope you used a throwaway account. If not, you might be in for some real embarrassment.

According to Vice's Motherboard, the email addresses of nearly 800,000 Brazzers users have been exposed following a data breach. The leaked data originated from a hack of the company's forum, where users go to discuss porn scenes. Brazzers users who never signed up for the forum may also be affected, however, due to the way the site was set up.

Motherboard obtained a copy of the stolen data from breach monitoring site Vigilante.pw, and said it contains some 790,724 unique email addresses along with usernames and plaintext passwords.

"This matches an incident which occurred in 2012 with our 'Brazzersforum,' which was managed by a third party," Brazzers Public Relations Manager Matt Stevens said in a statement to Motherboard. "The incident occurred because of a vulnerability in the said third party software, the 'vBulletin' software, and not Brazzers itself."

Stevens went on to say that for the sake of user convenience, accounts were shared between Brazzers and the Brazzersforum.

"That resulted in a small portion of our user accounts being exposed and we took corrective measures in the days following this incident to protect our users," Stevens said. "Brazzers takes the privacy and safety of its users very seriously."

Motherboard spoke to two Brazzers users whose information was exposed, both of whom said they had never used the Brazzersforum.

As of Tuesday afternoon the Brazzersforum was unavailable to users. Those visiting the site are informed that it is "currently under construction."

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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