What happened?
In January 2017, the free hidden service host Freedom Hosting II suffered a data breach . The attack allegedly took down 20% of dark web sites running behind Tor hidden services with the attacker claiming that of the 10,613 impacted sites, more than 50% of the content was child pornography. The hack led to the exposure of MySQL databases for the sites which included a vast amount of information on the hidden services Freedom Hosting II was managing. The impacted data classes far exceeds those listed for the breach and differ between the thousands of impacted sites.
When did it happen?
The breach date in the public record is January 31, 2017. The record was added to the catalogue on February 5, 2017 and last updated there on February 5, 2017.
What information was reported as exposed?
- Email addresses
- Passwords
- Usernames
These are incident-level categories. The record does not prove that every category was exposed for every affected person.
Who may be affected?
This record may be relevant to people who had an account or other relationship with Freedom Hosting II or used fhostingesps6bly.onion around January 31, 2017. A catalogue entry does not establish that every customer was affected or that every listed data category applied to each person. Compare the record with an official notice addressed to you.
What should you do?
Compare the organization, dates, and information categories with any notice you received. Use contact details you independently confirm.
Change exposed or reused passwords, begin with your email account, and turn on multi-factor authentication where available.
Treat unexpected breach follow-ups with caution. Do not use links or phone numbers in a suspicious message; contact the organization directly.
Choose actions that match the information involved. If you find signs that someone is using your identity, the Federal Trade Commission provides a personal recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov.
Sources and review information
- Have I Been Pwned breach catalogue record ↗
- Federal Trade Commission: What To Do After a Data Breach ↗
- Federal Trade Commission: Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts ↗
Page reviewed September 14, 2026 by the Data Breach Help Editorial Team. Catalogue details reflect the provider record and may change.