The Sanshou.net Leak Exposed 19,861 Chinese Martial Arts Users

HEROIC found that Sanshou.net, a now-defunct Chinese martial arts information website, had its user database leaked on a prominent hacking forum on August 21, 2018. The breach exposed the personal data of 19,861 registered users, including their email addresses and passwords stored in plaintext. The dataset was discovered circulating as a combolist, a ready-made file that attackers use to try stolen credentials across other websites.

Why This Is Dangerous

The most alarming detail in this breach is that passwords were stored in plaintext, meaning there was no encryption or hashing to protect them. Anyone who obtained this dataset could immediatly read every password without any technical effort. Because many people reuse passwords across multiple websites, this breach creates a direct path for attackers to break into email accounts, banking apps, and social media profiles that have nothing to do with Sanshou.net.

What Was Exposed

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords

Why This Matters

Even though this breach occured in 2018, leaked credentials do not expire. Combolists compiled from older breaches like this one are actively bought and sold on dark web marketplaces years after the original incident. Attackers run these lists through automated tools to attempt logins on banking, shopping, and email platforms. A single reused password from a long-forgotten account can lead to a full account takeover on a much more sensitive service.

How a Database Breach Works

A database breach happens when an attacker gains unauthorized access to a website's backend and extracts the underlying data tables. In this case, the Sanshou.net user table, containing account credentials, was copied and later published on a public hacking forum. Once a database is posted online, it spreads quickly and becomes a permanent part of the dark web ecosystem. The data from seperate breaches is often merged into large combolists that are distributed freely among criminal communities.

Check If You Are Affected

HEROIC's free scanner checks your email address against more than 400 billion leaked records, including data from the Sanshou.net breach. Enter your email at HEROIC to find out in seconds whether your information has been exposed. If you have ever reused the password from this account anywhere else, change it immediately and enable two-factor authentication on every account where it is available.