Inside the Newbert Report Breach: How 35,645 Credentials Were Stolen

HEROIC found: In August 2018, a dataset posted on a prominent hacking forum exposed 35,645 records from The Newbert Report, a Texas Rangers baseball fan site and blog, including email addresses and MD5 password hashes.

Why the Newbert Report Breach Is Dangerous

MD5 password hashes offer minimal real-world protection because attackers can crack them using precomputed rainbow tables in seconds. The 35,645 email and password hash pairs exposed here give anyone who obtained this dataset in 2018 direct access to the underlying passwords for most accounts. Sports fan communities tend to have members who reuse passwords across email, banking, and other services, making this dataset a ready-made credential stuffing list for targeting accounts well beyond the original site.

What Was Exposed in the Newbert Report Leak

• Email Addresses
• MD5 Password Hashes

Why This Newbert Report Data Puts You at Risk

Once an MD5 hash is cracked, the recovered password can be tested against email accounts, banking platforms, and any other service where the victim reused that password. A successful email login gives attackers account recovery access across dozens of services simultaneously. Financial fraud and identity theft accumulate quickly once email access is established, since password reset flows grant entry to accounts the attacker never directly targeted. Years of circulation in criminal markets means these credentials have been tested widely.

How Database Breach Works

Database breaches occur when attackers gain unauthorized access to stored data through vulnerabilities in web applications, stolen administrative credentials, or SQL injection attacks. Once inside, the attacker exports user records including email addresses and password hashes directly from the database. When those hashes use weak algorithms like MD5, the stolen data becomes practically usable without significant additional cracking effort.

Check If Your Data Was Exposed

HEROIC operates one of the world's largest breach databases, covering more than 400 billion leaked records. Use HEROIC's free breach scanner to check if your email address or credentials appeared in the Newbert Report leak or thousands of other breaches in our database.