DLH.net
HIGH RISKData breach — July 2016
In July 2016, the gaming news site DLH.net suffered a data breach which exposed 3.3M subscriber identities. Along with the keys used to redeem and activate games on the Steam platform, the breach also resulted in the exposure of email addresses, birth dates and salted MD5 password hashes. The data was donated to Have I Been Pwned by data breach monitoring service Vigilante.pw.
search Check if you were affected — freeData exposed in this breach
What happened in the DLH.net data breach?
In July 2016, the gaming news site DLH.net suffered a data breach which exposed 3.3M subscriber identities. Along with the keys used to redeem and activate games on the Steam platform, the breach also resulted in the exposure of email addresses, birth dates and salted MD5 password hashes. The data was donated to Have I Been Pwned by data breach monitoring service Vigilante.pw.
The exposed data included 6 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 DLH.net hacked?
Yes. DLH.net was breached in July 2016. The breach exposed 3,264,710 records including dates of birth, email addresses, names. 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 DLH.net breach so dangerous?
The DLH.net breach exposed 3,264,710 records — that is 3.3M people whose personal data is now circulating on the dark web. The combination of dates of birth, email addresses, names makes this a high-risk breach that requires immediate action.
Because passwords were exposed, attackers can use credential stuffing to automatically test your DLH.net 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 DLH.net 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
Names — used to build profiles and target you with personalised scams
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
Website activity — may be combined with other breach data to build a profile for targeted attacks
Is the DLH.net breach still dangerous in 2026?
Yes. Stolen data from the DLH.net 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 DLH.net 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 DLH.net breach
Approximately 3,264,710 user records were exposed in the DLH.net breach in July 2016.
Yes. Leaked credentials are actively used in credential stuffing attacks years after a breach. If you reused your DLH.net 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 DLH.net dataset and tell you instantly whether your email was exposed and what data was taken.
Change your DLH.net 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 DLH.net breach?
The DLH.net data breach affected approximately 3,264,710 users who had accounts with the service. While not the largest breach on record, it still represents a significant number of compromised accounts in our database of 970+ known breaches.
If you ever created an account with DLH.net 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 DLH.net breach
Change your DLH.net password immediately
Go to DLH.net 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 DLH.net 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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