The Freestart.hu Leak Means 9,427 Email Passwords Are Exposed

HEROIC analysts found a combolist tied to the Hungarian site freestart.hu circulating on a Telegram channel in June 2026. The file contained 9,427 records pairing email addresses with plaintext passwords and the URLs they were used on. Why this is dangerous: with the passwords stored in plaintext, anyone who obtains this file can try the credentials immediately, without needing to crack or decrypt anything. That lowers the bar for attackers significantly compared to breaches where passwords are hashed. What was exposed: email addresses, plaintext passwords, and associated URLs linking each credential to the site it was used on. Why this matters: many people reuse the same password across multiple accounts, so a leaked email and password pair from one site can often unlock email, banking, or social media accounts elsewhere. This kind of exposure is commonly used to fuel credential stuffing attacks, account takeover, and identity theft. How combolists like this one work: a combolist bundles usernames or email addresses together with passwords, typically pulled from earlier breaches, malware infections, or scraped data, then packaged and distributed on dark web forums and Telegram channels for other criminals to use. Because the data is already paired and ready to use, combolists are one of the fastest ways attackers automate large-scale login attempts. Check if you are affected: if you have ever used freestart.hu or reuse passwords across sites, it is worth checking whether your information appears in this leak. HEROIC's free breach scanner searches a database of more than 400 billion leaked records so you can quickly see if your email address was exposed.