Inside the NSF Breach: How a Database Dump Harvested 6,893 Passwords

In August 2018, HEROIC identified 6,893 records from the Nigerian Software Foundation (NSF), an organization dedicated to advancing Nigeria's position as a global information technology leader. The data was posted on a prominent hacking forum and contained email addresses and MD5 password hashes.

Why the Nigerian Software Foundation (NSF) Breach Is Dangerous

Attackers who obtain tech-sector credentials can target professionals with spear-phishing campaigns, attempt to access corporate systems, and use cracked passwords to infiltrate software development environments, email accounts, and cloud platforms where affected users may have reused the same credentials.

What Was Exposed in the Nigerian Software Foundation (NSF) Leak

• Email addresses
• MD5 password hashes

Why This Nigerian Software Foundation (NSF) Data Puts You at Risk

MD5 hashes can be cracked quickly using rainbow tables or brute-force attacks. Once attackers recover the original passwords, they use credential stuffing to attempt unauthorized access to banking, email, and professional platforms. Users who reused their NSF password elsewhere face account takeover, identity theft, and fraud across multiple services.

How Database Breaches Work

In a database breach, attackers exploit web application vulnerabilities such as SQL injection to extract stored user records directly from a backend database. The stolen records are compiled into combolists and distributed on hacking forums. The NSF breach followed this pattern: credentials were exfiltrated from the organization's database and posted on a prominent forum where bad actors harvest and exploit them.

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 Nigerian Software Foundation (NSF) leak or thousands of other breaches in our database.