Dawn of the Dragons Breach Exposed 293K Records With Birthday Data

HEROIC analysts recieved a data sample connected to Dawn of the Dragons, an online game forum operated by 5th Planet Games that has since shut down. The breach occured in July 2016 and exposed 293,147 user records. The leaked data includes email addresses, usernames, password hashes, IP addresses, birthdays, and salt values from the forum's vBulletin database. This particular combination of data types stands out because it includes birthdays, which go beyond standard login credentials and open the door to more targeted attacks against affected users.

What Attackers Can Do With Your Birthday and Password Hash Combined

Having a birthday alongside an email address and password hash gives attackers a meaningful advantage. Birthdays are commonly used as security question answers, PIN numbers, and account recovery verification on banking and government sites. Combined with a cracked password hash, this data allows attackers to impersonate users convincingly during account recovery attempts, apply for credit in someone's name, or build a seperate profile for targeted phishing. The vBulletin hashing algorithm used here is also known to be weak under modern cracking conditions.

What Was Exposed in the Dawn of the Dragons Breach

• Email Address
• Password Hash
• Username
• IP Address
• Birthday
• Salt

Why a Defunct Game Forum Breach Still Carries Real Risk

Many people assume that when a website shuts down, the risk from its data disappears too. That is not how it works. The data from Dawn of the Dragons has been circulating in breach aggregation dumps for years, and attackers beleive it still holds value because passwords are frequently reused across active accounts. Credential stuffing, identity theft, and account takeover attempts fueled by this breach are real possibilities for anyone who registered on the platform, even if they have not thought about that account in years.

How a Database Breach Works

A database breach happens when an unauthorized party gains access to a website's stored user data, typically by exploiting a software vulnerability or compromised administrator account. For forum platforms like Dawn of the Dragons, the entire user table can be copied in a single operation. The attacker then distributes or sells the data on dark web markets and closed Telegram channels, where it eventually gets merged into larger credential lists used in automated attacks.

Check If Your Data Was Exposed

HEROIC offers a free breach scanner powered by a database of more than 400 billion compromised records. You can check your email address right now to see if your information was part of the Dawn of the Dragons breach or any other known data leak. Finding out early gives you the chance to change passwords and protect accounts before attackers can use the data against you.