Rock 107: 11,553 Canadian Radio Listener Accounts Breached (2018)

Rock 107: When Radio Station Listener Accounts Become a Security Liability

Rock 107 is a classic rock radio station serving the Quinte region of Ontario, Canada. Most listeners who registerd on the station's website did so to enter contests, request songs, or sign up for newsletters -- ordinary interactions with a local media outlet. In August 2018, those ordinary interactions resulted in 11,553 user accounts being exposed in a database breach that circulated on hacking forums. The exposed data included email addresses and passwords stored in an unexpectd and unconfirmed hash format, leaving the security of those credentials genuinely unclear.

Rock 107 2018: Breach Summary

• Records Exposed: 11,553
• Data Types: Email addresses, hashed passwords (format unknown)
• Breach Type: Database breach -- Music/Radio platform
• Country Affected: Canada
• Date Leaked: August 26, 2018

Radio Station Websites: Overlooked Credential Repositories

Regional radio stations operate websites that accumulate user registrations over years -- often with minimal security infrastructure. Contest entry forms, newsletter signups, and listener accounts create real databases of real credentials, typically maintained by small teams without dedicated security staff. These platforms rarely appear on threat intelligence radar until a breach surfaces, by which time the exposed data has already been circulating privately for months. Rock 107 is representative of thousands of niche media sites that sit in this overlooked segment of the attack surface.

Unknown Hash Format: A Compounding Risk

When a breach dataset's password hash format is classified as "unknown," it presents a unique challenge. Security teams can't advise users on specific risk levels, and crack times can't be estimated without knowing the algorithm. In practice, unknown-format hashes from 2018-era platforms frequently turn out to be weak or unsalted MD5, phpBB-era hashing, or simple SHA1 -- all formats that are highly vulnerable to modern cracking tools. Users affected by Rock 107 should assume their passwords are at risk and audit any accounts where they may have reused that password.

Check If Your Credentials Were Exposed

HEROIC's free breach scanner searches across more than 400 billion exposed records to find your email address in known data breaches -- including the Rock 107 leak. Scan your email now to see if your credentials have been compromised.