Public Business Data
MEDIUM RISKData breach — August 2021
In approximately August 2021, hundreds of gigabytes of business data collated from public sources was obtained and later published to a popular hacking forum. Sourced from a customer of Bureau van Dijk's (BvD) "Orbis" product, the corpus of data released contained hundreds of millions of lines about corporations and individuals, including personal information such as names and dates of birth. The data also included 28M unique email addresses along with physical addresses (presumedly corporate locations), phone numbers and job titles. There was no unauthorised access to BvD's systems, nor did the incident expose any of their or parent company's Moody's clients.
search Check if you were affected — freeData exposed in this breach
What happened in the Public Business Data data breach?
In approximately August 2021, hundreds of gigabytes of business data collated from public sources was obtained and later published to a popular hacking forum. Sourced from a customer of Bureau van Dijk's (BvD) "Orbis" product, the corpus of data released contained hundreds of millions of lines about corporations and individuals, including personal information such as names and dates of birth. The data also included 28M unique email addresses along with physical addresses (presumedly corporate locations), phone numbers and job titles. There was no unauthorised access to BvD's systems, nor did the incident expose any of their or parent company's Moody's clients.
The exposed data included 6 types of personal information. Learn more about what a data breach means for you.
Quick answer — was Public Business Data hacked?
Yes. Public Business Data was breached in August 2021. The breach exposed 27,917,714 records including dates of birth, email addresses, job titles. This breach has been independently verified. If your email was involved, your data may still be at risk today. Check if you were affected.
Why was the Public Business Data breach so dangerous?
The Public Business Data breach exposed 27,917,714 records — that is 27.9M people whose personal data is now circulating on the dark web. The combination of dates of birth, email addresses, job titles makes this a medium-risk breach that should be addressed promptly.
Don't wait to find out — check if your email was exposed in this breach now.
What data was stolen in the Public Business Data breach?
Dates of birth — used to verify identity for account takeover and fraud
Email addresses — used for phishing attacks and credential stuffing against your other accounts
Job titles — may be combined with other breach data to build a profile for targeted attacks
Names — used to build profiles and target you with personalised scams
Phone numbers — enables SIM swapping attacks and targeted SMS phishing scams
Physical addresses — combined with other data, used for identity theft and physical fraud
Is the Public Business Data breach still dangerous in 2026?
Yes. Stolen data from the Public Business Data breach remains dangerous years after the incident. Research shows that over 65% of stolen credentials from older breaches have never been changed by the account holders. Attackers routinely compile data from multiple breaches to build complete profiles, and credentials from 2021 are still actively used in credential stuffing attacks today.
Personal information like email addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth never expire. Even if you changed your Public Business Data password, the other exposed data can be combined with information from other breaches to target you. Learn more about how long stolen data stays dangerous.
Frequently asked about the Public Business Data breach
Approximately 27,917,714 user records were exposed in the Public Business Data breach in August 2021.
Yes. Leaked credentials are actively used in credential stuffing attacks years after a breach. If you reused your Public Business Data password elsewhere and haven't changed it, those accounts remain at risk today.
Enter your email in the free checker on EmailLeaked. We scan 12 billion+ breach records including the full Public Business Data dataset and tell you instantly whether your email was exposed and what data was taken.
Change your Public Business Data password immediately, change any other account where you used the same password, enable two-factor authentication on all important accounts, and monitor for phishing emails over the next 90 days.
Who was affected by the Public Business Data breach?
The Public Business Data data breach affected approximately 27,917,714 users who had accounts with the service. With 27.9M records exposed, this is one of the larger breaches tracked in our database of 970+ known breaches.
If you ever created an account with Public Business Data or used their services, your data may have been included in this breach. Check your email now to find out. You can also read our guide on what to do immediately after a data breach.
If your email was in the Public Business Data breach
Change your Public Business Data password immediately
Go to Public Business Data and change your password right now. Use a strong, unique password that you have never used anywhere else.
Change any account sharing that password
If you used the same password on other sites, change it on every one of them. Attackers test stolen credentials on hundreds of popular sites within hours.
Enable two-factor authentication
Turn on 2FA on Public Business Data and every important account. Even if your password is known, attackers cannot get in without the second factor.
Check your other accounts for this breach
Run a full email check to see every breach your email appears in — not just this one.
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