What Happened
On October 3, 2023, Haijiao.com, a popular Chinese adult discussion forum, suffered unauthorized access to its database, exposing 15,760,044 user records. The breach revealed sensitive personal information including email addresses, usernames, IP addresses, both hashed and plaintext passwords, and phone numbers. The stolen data was actively circulated online shortly after the breach occurred, making it one of the largest confirmed exposures linked to a Chinese online forum in 2023. The presence of both encrypted and plaintext passwords in the leaked records was particularly concerning, as it left affected accounts vulnerable to misuse, especially when combined with other exposed details like phone numbers and IP addresses.