Cross Fire
HIGH RISKData breach — August 2016
In August 2016, the Russian gaming forum known as Cross Fire (or cfire.mail.ru) was hacked along with a number of other forums on the Russian mail provider, mail.ru. The vBulletin forum contained 12.8 million accounts including usernames, email addresses and passwords stored as salted MD5 hashes.
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What happened in the Cross Fire data breach?
In August 2016, the Russian gaming forum known as Cross Fire (or cfire.mail.ru) was hacked along with a number of other forums on the Russian mail provider, mail.ru. The vBulletin forum contained 12.8 million accounts including usernames, email addresses and passwords stored as salted MD5 hashes.
The exposed data included 3 types of personal information. Because passwords were exposed, users who reused their password on other sites are at particular risk. Learn more about what a data breach means for you.
Quick answer — was Cross Fire hacked?
Yes. Cross Fire was breached in August 2016. The breach exposed 12,865,609 records including email addresses, passwords, usernames. 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 Cross Fire breach so dangerous?
The Cross Fire breach exposed 12,865,609 records — that is 12.9M people whose personal data is now circulating on the dark web. The combination of email addresses, passwords, usernames makes this a high-risk breach that requires immediate action.
Because passwords were exposed, attackers can use credential stuffing to automatically test your Cross Fire password against hundreds of other websites. If you reused your password anywhere, those accounts are now at risk. Read more about what happens to your data after a breach.
Don't wait to find out — check if your email was exposed in this breach now.
What data was stolen in the Cross Fire breach?
Email addresses — used for phishing attacks and credential stuffing against your other accounts
Passwords — can be used to access your accounts directly or cracked to reveal your actual password
Usernames — used to build profiles and target you with personalised scams
Is the Cross Fire breach still dangerous in 2026?
Yes. Stolen data from the Cross Fire 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 2016 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 Cross Fire 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 Cross Fire breach
Approximately 12,865,609 user records were exposed in the Cross Fire breach in August 2016.
Yes. Leaked credentials are actively used in credential stuffing attacks years after a breach. If you reused your Cross Fire 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 Cross Fire dataset and tell you instantly whether your email was exposed and what data was taken.
Change your Cross Fire 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 Cross Fire breach?
The Cross Fire data breach affected approximately 12,865,609 users who had accounts with the service. With 12.9M records exposed, this is one of the larger breaches tracked in our database of 970+ known breaches.
If you ever created an account with Cross Fire 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 Cross Fire breach
Change your Cross Fire password immediately
Go to Cross Fire 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 Cross Fire 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
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