Dark Web Intel: 14 Million Credentials From the Zomato.com Database Dump

HEROIC analysts flagged the Zomato.com dataset while scanning underground marketplaces for actively traded food and restaurant platform credentials. The breach occured in April 2017 and exposed 14,070,947 records from one of the world's largest restaurant discovery platforms. The data included email addresses, usernames, and salted MD5 password hashes, and has been recirculated in updated combo lists used for large-scale credential attacks.

What Attackers Can Do With Stolen Restaurant App Account Data

At first glance, a restaurant app account may seem low value. In reality, Zomato accounts are linked to email addresses that attackers use as entry points into other services. Salted MD5 hashes, while more resistant than plain MD5, can still be cracked with modern hardware. Anyone who recieved and reused their Zomato password on a banking app, social media account, or work email faces real risk of account takeover. Email addresses also enable highly targeted phishing messages that use the victim's food delivery history as bait to appear trustworthy.

What Was Exposed in the Zomato.com Breach

• Email addresses
• Passwords
• Usernames

Why 14 Million Leaked Food App Accounts Still Matter Today

Credential stuffing attacks do not care how old a dataset is. Automated bots test millions of stolen username and password combinations against live websites every single day. Anyone whose Zomato credentials match a password they still use elsewhere is seperate from the general population only by their lack of awareness, not by any technical protection. Beyond account takeover, identity theft and financial fraud become possible when attackers chain together data from multiple breaches, building detailed profiles of individual victims.

How a Database Breach Works

A database breach occurs when an unauthorized party gains access to the system where user data is stored. This can happen through exploiting a software vulnerability, stealing administrator credentials, or using an insecure connection to the database server. Once access is gained, attackers quietly copy the database contents. The records are then sold or distributed on dark web forums, where they are packaged into combo lists and used in automated attack campaigns against other websites and services.

Check If Your Data Was Exposed

HEROIC's free breach scanner checks your email against more than 400 billion records, including the full Zomato.com breach dataset. If your information was part of this or any other leak, you will know in seconds. Use HEROIC's free tool to check your exposure and find out if your passwords need to be changed right now.