Your Info May Already Be Exposed. BirthSupport Lost 13,318 Accounts.

HEROIC analysts uncovered a data breach affecting BirthSupport, a now-defunct United States community platform that provided support for sensitive birthing practices. The breach, which occurred in August 2018, exposed the personal data of 13,318 users. The compromised information included email addresses and plaintext passwords -- passwords stored in completely unprotected, readable form. This dataset later appeared on a popular hacking forum, where it was packaged into combolists and distributed for use in automated credential stuffing attacks targeting other platforms.

Why This Is Dangerous

The combination of a sensitive topic platform with plaintext password storage is particularly concerning. People who sought support for personal birthing decisions trusted this platform with their login details. Those same details -- their email address and raw password -- were handed to hackers on a silver platter. Plaintext passwords need zero cracking effort. They can be dropped directly into attack tools and tested against Gmail, Facebook, banking apps, and workplace logins within hours of a breach. Given that many people use the same password for years across many accounts, this kind of leak has a very long shelf life.

What Was Exposed

• Email addresses -- 13,318 unique user accounts
• Plaintext passwords -- stored and leaked with absoluetly no protection
• Platform category: Community, Education, Medical
• Country of origin: United States
• Breach structure: Database dump distributed via hacking forum
• Date first observed: August 26, 2018

Why This Matters

BirthSupport is no longer active, which means affected users almost certainly never received a breach notification. When a platform shuts down, it takes its security team with it -- and the users it left behind have no way of knowing their data is still circulating. For anyone who used this platform, the risk is not historical. Credential stuffing attacks are automated and continuous, and combolists from 2018 are still being fed into attack tools today. If you reused that password anywhere, it may have already been tested against your other accounts.

How Plaintext Password Breaches Work

Most legitimate websites store passwords using a process called hashing -- a one-way transformation that converts your password into a scrambled string. When you log in, the site hashes what you typed and compares it to what is stored. A properly hashed password requires significant computing effort to crack. Plaintext storage skips this entirely. The password is stored exactly as you typed it. When a database is breached, the attacker gets a ready-made list of working credentials requiring no further processing. This is why plaintext password storage is considered one of the most serious cybersecurity failures posible for any website operator.

Check If You Are Affected

If you ever created an account on BirthSupport at birthsupport.org, your email and plaintext password were likely part of this breach. HEROIC's free breach scanner checks your email against more than 400 billion leaked records sourced from thousands of breaches worldwide. You do not need to remember every site you ever signed up for -- just enter your email and HEROIC will tell you where your data has shown up. Run your free scan now and take back control of your digital security.