What Happened
In June 2020, Appen, an AI training data company, suffered a significant data breach that exposed the personal information of approximately 5.9 million users. The breach occurred when malicious actors hacked a third-party provider’s systems, stealing credentials that enabled unauthorized access to Appen’s user authentication database. The compromised data included names, email addresses, passwords stored as bcrypt hashes, IP addresses, employers, and in some cases phone numbers. The leaked information was subsequently sold online, raising serious concerns about data privacy and prompting Appen to implement enhanced security measures to prevent future incidents.
