Breach Database / Ster-Kinekor
Yes — Ster-Kinekor was breached.
- 1.6 million accounts affected
- Breach occurred 2017-03-09 · sterkinekor.co.za
- Verified entry in the Have I Been Pwned catalog
What happened
In 2016, the South African cinema company Ster-Kinekor had a security flaw which leaked a large amount of customer data via an enumeration vulnerability in the API of their old website. Whilst more than 6 million accounts were leaked by the flaw, the exposed data only contained 1.6 million unique email addresses. The data also included extensive personal information such as names, addresses, birthdates, genders and plain text passwords.
What data was exposed
- Dates of birth
- Email addresses
- Genders
- Names
- Passwords
- Phone numbers
- Physical addresses
- Spoken languages
What to do right now
- Change your password for this service now. And change it anywhere you reused the same password — attackers try leaked passwords on other sites within hours ("credential stuffing").
- Turn on two-factor authentication. Even a leaked password is useless against an account protected by a second factor. Prefer an authenticator app over SMS.
- Be alert for smishing and SIM-swap attempts. Treat unexpected texts and "carrier" calls with suspicion; add a PIN/port-freeze with your mobile carrier.
- Watch for targeted phishing mail. A leaked home address makes postal and doorstep scams more convincing.
- Expect convincing phishing emails. Attackers use breached details to write personalized emails. Be suspicious of any message referencing this service.
- Check your other accounts on Have I Been Pwned. Your email address may appear in other breaches you don't know about yet.
- Monitor the apps you use going forward. Clearly watches the breach record for the companies behind your apps and alerts you the moment one appears.
Breach data from Have I Been Pwned. Listing here means the service appears in the public breach record — not that your personal data was affected.