GoldSilver data breach

What happened

In October 2018, the bullion education and dealer services site GoldSilver suffered a data breach that exposed 243k unique email addresses spanning customers and mailing list subscribers. An extensive amount of personal information on customers was obtained including names, addresses, phone numbers, purchases and passwords and answers to security questions stored as MD5 hashes. In a small number of cases, passport, social security numbers and partial credit card data was also exposed. The data breach and source code belonging to GoldSilver was publicly posted on a dark web service where it remained months later. When notified about the incident, GoldSilver advised that "all affected customers have been directly notified".

What data leaked

• Bank account numbers
• Email addresses
• IP addresses
• Names
• Partial credit card data
• Passport numbers
• Phone numbers
• Physical addresses
• Purchases
• Security questions and answers
• Social security numbers

What to do if you had an account

1. Change the password. Change your password on this service. If you used the same password anywhere else, change it there too: attackers try leaked email and password pairs on other sites automatically. A password manager makes one unique password per site practical.
2. Turn on two-step sign-in. Enable two-factor authentication where the service offers it, preferably with an authenticator app or a passkey. A leaked password alone is then not enough to get in.
3. Expect targeted phishing. Leaked contact details are used to write convincing fake messages that mention the breached company or your real name. Do not click links in unexpected emails or texts about this account; go to the site by typing its address.
4. Watch for scam calls and SIM swaps. Be suspicious of calls and texts that claim to be from your bank or a courier. Ask your mobile operator for a port-out or SIM-change PIN if it offers one.
5. Check your bank statements. Review recent card and account transactions and report anything you do not recognise. If full card numbers were exposed, ask your bank to replace the card.
6. Guard against identity fraud. Identity documents and dates of birth cannot be changed like a password. Consider a credit freeze or fraud alert where your country offers one, and be wary of anyone who 'verifies' you using those details.

Check your email at haveibeenpwned.com

We do not run email lookups ourselves. The search is done on haveibeenpwned.com, the service this list comes from.