How a 2016 Database Leak Exposed 13,507 techfactory.net Passwords

HEROIC analysts identified a database breach tied to techfactory.net, dating back to February 16, 2016. The exposed file contains 13,507 records: email addresses paired with passwords stored in plain text. This breach record has not been independently verified by HEROIC, but the data continues to circulate.

Why This Plaintext Password Leak Is Dangerous

Storing passwords in plain text is one of the most serious mistakes a website can make. There is no hashing to crack and no encryption to break, anyone who obtains this file has the actual password for each listed email address, ready to use immediately.

What Was Exposed in This techfactory.net Breach

• Email addresses
• Passwords (stored in plaintext)

Why This Matters

Even a simple email and password pairing is enough to fuel credential stuffing, where attackers use automated tools to try that same combination across dozens of other websites. If you registered on techfactory.net around 2016 and have reused that password since, any account still using it should be considered exposed.

How This Database Breach Happened

This incident carries the signature of a direct database export, an attacker gaining access to the site's backend and extracting the email address and password fields for every registered user in a single action. Because the passwords were stored without hashing or encryption, the data required no additional effort to become usable once it was stolen.

Check If You Are Affected

If you think you may have registered on techfactory.net, or you regularly reuse passwords across sites, it's worth checking your exposure. HEROIC's free breach scanner searches a database of more than 400 billion leaked records, so you can find out where your email address has appeared and update any passwords that are still at risk.