The AnswerSearch Leak Handed Attackers 45,901 US Credentials

In August 2018, HEROIC analysts identified 45,901 records from AnswerSearch, a now-defunct US community question-and-answer platform, posted on a prominent hacking forum. The dataset contained email addresses and passwords in three different formats: plaintext, MD5 hashes, and SHA1 hashes. The combination of plaintext and weakly hashed passwords in a single dataset makes this one of the more dangerous credential exposures from that period.

Why the AnswerSearch Breach Is Dangerous

The AnswerSearch leak handed attackers 45,901 US credentials in immediately usable form. Plaintext passwords require no processing at all: they can be copied directly into login forms. MD5 and SHA1 hashes, both considered cryptographically obsolete, can typically be reversed within seconds for any password that is shorter than 12 characters or follows common patterns. This means a significant portion of the AnswerSearch dataset is effectively as dangerous as plaintext to a motivated attacker.

What Was Exposed in the AnswerSearch Leak

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords
• MD5 password hashes
• SHA1 password hashes

Why This AnswerSearch Data Puts You at Risk

Community Q&A platforms often attract users who register with their primary email address and a password they use across multiple sites. If your AnswerSearch credentials are in this dataset, every account sharing that email and password combination is a potential target. Automated credential stuffing tools can test these combinations against banking, shopping, and email platforms at scale, with successful logins often going undetected for months.

How a Database Combolist Works

The AnswerSearch breach originated from a direct database dump, where an attacker extracted user records including stored passwords across multiple hashing methods. The result was packaged into a combolist, a structured file pairing email addresses with their associated passwords or hashes, and shared on a hacking forum. Combolists from US platforms command particular interest from credential stuffing operations because of the high likelihood that the email addresses link to active accounts on major services.

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 AnswerSearch leak or thousands of other breaches in our database.