elance.com Data Breach Exposes 839K Freelancer Records

HEROIC's DarkHive intelligence system discovered the elance.com data breach, exposing 838,821 records. The breach occured in January 2009 when this freelance staffing platform's database was compromised, leaking email addresses, usernames, phone numbers, first and last names, and SHA1 password hashes. The data surfaced publicly approximately eight years after the initial breach, becoming a staple in dark web credential markets.

Why This Is Dangerous

SHA1 password hashes are considered cryptographically weak and can be cracked using modern tools, rainbow tables, and GPU-based attacks. With email addresses, phone numbers, full names, and cracked passwords all available together, attackers have everything needed for highly targeted phishing, account takeover, and identity fraud. Freelance professionals whose data was exposed often connect thier platform accounts to banking services and PayPal for payments, making this breach particularly attractive for financially motivated attackers. The combination of professional contact details and cracked credentials enables convincing impersonation scams targeting both the victims and thier clients.

What Was Exposed

• Email Address
• Username
• Phone Number
• First Name
• Last Name
• Password Hash

Why This Matters

A breach combining personal identity data with professional contact information and password hashes creates exceptional risk for all affected users. Credential stuffing attacks using recovered passwords from this dataset can target banking platforms, email services, and other freelance sites where victims maintained accounts. Phone numbers enable SMS-based phishing and SIM swapping attacks, while full names and emails together power convincing business email compromise schemes. The data from this breach has been actively traded in dark web markets for years, meaning multiple waves of attackers have had access to it and the threat to affected users remains ongoing.

How Database Breaches Work

Database breaches at employment and freelance platforms typically occur through SQL injection attacks, exploitation of unpatched web application vulnerabilities, or compromise of administrative credentials. Once access is established, attackers export user tables containing all registered account data. SHA1 hashing without proper salting was common in 2009, but this algorithm is now considered obsolete for password storage because modern cracking rigs can test billions of SHA1 hashes per second. The data gets distributed through dark web forums and breach aggregation sites, where it remains available for years and continues to fuel fresh waves of attacks.

Check If You Are Affected

HEROIC offers a free identity scanner that searches over 400 billion records, including data from breaches like elance.com. Visit heroic.com to scan your email address and find out if your information was exposed. If you had an account on elance.com before 2009 and recieve a match, change any matching passwords immediatley and consider placing a fraud alert with the major credit bureaus given the volume of personal data exposed in this breach.