Search Your Email: The Biz InfoZones Breach Exposed 6,817 Accounts

HEROIC analysts identified the Biz InfoZones breach while scanning known hacking forums for newly surfaced credential dumps. The breach occured on or around July 4, 2018, and involved a direct database compromise of Biz InfoZones, an India-based online business directory. The exposed dataset contained 6,817 unique records, including email addresses and plaintext passwords. The data was later packaged and shared on a popular hacking forum, where it became accessible to a wide range of malicious actors looking to exploit reused credentials.

Why This Is Dangerous

When passwords are stored as plaintext rather than encrypted, anyone who gets access to the database can read them instantly. No cracking tools needed. No extra steps. For the people whose accounts were in this breach, that means their exact password was handed over to strangers on the internet. If you used the same password on your email, banking, or any other account, those accounts could be at risk too. This type of credential exposure is one of the leading causes of account takeovers across the web.

What Was Exposed

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords (unencrypted, fully readable)

Why This Matters

Business directories like Biz InfoZones are often overlooked when people think about data security. Most users wouldn't even remember signing up for a site like this, let alone think twice about it years later. But attackers do remember. Old breach data gets recycled constantly, folded into large combolists, and used in automated login attacks against banks, email providers, and social media platforms. A seven-year-old breach can still cause real harm today if the passwords involved are still in use.

How a Database Breach Works

A database breach typically happens when an attacker finds a weakness in a website, such as a poorly written login form or an outdated software component, and uses it to run commands directly against the backend database. In many cases, a technique called SQL injection is used, where specially crafted input tricks the site into dumping its contents. Once the attacker has the database, they can extract every user record stored in it. If passwords were never encrypted in the first place, they walk away with a fully useable list of email and password combinations. That list then gets sold or shared online, where it gets repurposed in credential stuffing tools that try those logins on hundreds of other websites automaticaly.

Check If You Are Affected

If you ever registered on Biz InfoZones or used the same email and password combination on other sites, your accounts could still be at risk today. HEROIC's free breach scanner checks your email against a database of over 400 billion exposed records, including dumps like this one. It only takes a few seconds to find out if your information has been compromised. Run a free search and see what attackers already know about you.