What happened?
In August 2012, the forum for making money with botting "The Botting Network" suffered a data breach that exposed 96k user records . The now defunct vBulletin forum leaked 96k email addresses, usernames, dates of birth and salted MD5 password hashes.
When did it happen?
The breach date in the public record is August 12, 2012. The record was added to the catalogue on December 18, 2025 and last updated there on December 18, 2025.
What information was reported as exposed?
- Dates of birth
- 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 The Botting Network or used thebotnet.com around August 12, 2012. 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.