The MIMS Breach: 5,713 Plaintext Passwords From 2015 Surface Now

HEROIC analysts identified a database breach tied to the Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences Ltd, commonly known as MIMS, an Indian healthcare organization. Dated September 16, 2015, the breach exposed 5,713 accounts, including first and last names, email addresses, usernames, and plaintext passwords.

Why This Is Dangerous

Because the passwords in this leak were stored in plaintext, there is no hashing or encryption standing between an attacker and a working login. Combined with a full name and email address, this gives an attacker everything needed to log directly into an affected account or to impersonate that person convincingly in a follow-up scam.

What Was Exposed

• First and last names
• Email addresses
• Usernames
• Plaintext passwords

Why This Matters

This data is over a decade old, but old passwords are still dangerous, since many people keep using the same password for years across multiple accounts. If someone whose information appears in this leak reused that password for their email, banking, or another healthcare portal, an attacker can try it there directly. Attaching a real first and last name to a leaked password also makes phishing and impersonation attempts far more convincing than a generic scam email would be.

How Database Breaches Like This Happen

This incident is classified as a database breach, meaning an attacker gained direct access to MIMS's backend systems and extracted account records in bulk rather than targeting people individually. Storing passwords in plaintext, without any hashing, is one of the more serious security failures an organization can make: if the database is ever accessed, every password in it is immediately usable with no cracking required.

Check If You Are Affected

If you have ever registered an account with the Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences or reused a password from that period elsewhere, it is worth checking now. HEROIC's free breach scanner searches a database of more than 400 billion breached records to tell you instantly if your email address has been exposed, and where.