Birthdays, IPs, Passwords: The Gameturk Breach Hit 698,756 Gamers

HEROIC analysts identified a breach connected to Gameturk, a Turkish online gaming portal, that exposed 698,756 user records. The breach dates back to November 17, 2015, and the exposed data set includes email addresses, usernames, IP addresses, birthdays, salt values, and passwords hashed using vBulletin's method.

Why the Gameturk Breach Exposes More Than Just Passwords

This breach stands out for how many different data points were exposed alongside the password hashes. Birthdays and IP addresses are exactly the kind of details used to answer security questions or verify identity with banks and other services. Combined with an email address and username, and a password that can potentially be cracked from its vBulletin hash, attackers get a surprisingly complete profile of nearly 700,000 people.

What Was Exposed in the Gameturk Breach

• Email addresses
• Usernames
• IP addresses
• Birthdays
• Salt values
• Passwords (vBulletin hashed)

Why This Matters for Gameturk Members

Cracked passwords from this breach can be used directly in credential stuffing attacks against email, banking, and social media accounts if the password was reused elsewhere. The birthday and IP address data adds another layer of risk, since that information can help attackers pass identity verification checks or build more convincing phishing and account recovery scams targeting former Gameturk members.

How a vBulletin Forum Breach Happens

Gameturk ran on vBulletin forum software, a platform that has faced numerous security vulnerabilities over the years. Attackers typically exploit an unpatched flaw or weak administrator credential to gain backend access, then export the entire user database, including hashed passwords, salts, emails, usernames, birthdays, and IP logs. That stolen data is then distributed through hacking forums and private channels, where it can continue circulating for years, exactly as happened with this breach.

Check If You Are Affected

With nearly 700,000 records exposed, including personal details beyond just passwords, this breach represents a significant risk. HEROIC's free breach scanner checks your email address against a database of more than 400 billion leaked records, including this one, so you can find out in seconds whether your information was exposed and take steps to secure your accounts.