CRITICAL SEVERITYCreativeVideo

Animoto Data Breach

Animoto Cloud Video Creation Platform Breach (2018): 22 Million User Accounts Including Passwords & DOB Exposed

Cloud-based video creation service.

Verified by ObscureIQ Intelligence

8.5Severity
25.4MRecords
5Fields
2018Year

ObscureIQ Breach Intelligence Scores
2.5
Breach Risk Index
10
Data Value
25
Market Recency
512
days
Since Breach

Risk Interpretation

Primary risks include password reuse, account takeover, and phishing. Project and branding context may also support impersonation or business-targeted scams.

🎯 Impact & Downstream Threats

In July 2018 Animoto suffered a breach exposing approximately 25 million user records including email addresses, names, dates of birth, geographic locations, and salted password hashes. The data was subsequently placed for sale on dark web markets. Animoto notified affected users and initiated password resets. No class-action settlement or regulatory action specific to this breach has been prominently documented in public sources.

Primary downstream threats:
  • Credential stuffing against reused passwords across other platforms
  • Identity verification bypass using name + date of birth combination
  • Targeted phishing campaigns using exposed email addresses
  • Doxxing risk from physical address exposure

🔓 Threat Vectors

Identity verification bypass
Phishing, credential stuffing & account takeover
Name-based social engineering
Pattern-of-life analysis & physical surveillance
Credential stuffing & account takeover

📋 Breach Intelligence

EntityAnimoto
OrganizationPrivate Company • USA
Breach Date2018-07-10
Disclosure2018-08-16
DBC Added2024-12-01
Added Date2024-12-01
Records~25.4M (25,400,868 records)
Attack VectorMisconfiguration
Data SubjectsUser
Breach PathwayDirect
SourceHave I Been Pwned / DataBreach.com / ObscureIQ
SensitivityStandard
CA Reported2018-08-16
Breach ID104;105
StatusConfirmed

📝 Executive Summary

Animoto, a cloud-based video creation platform used by millions of consumers and small businesses, suffered a data breach in July 2018 due to a misconfiguration that exposed approximately 25 million user records. The breach was discovered to have resulted in stolen data being placed for sale on dark web markets. No external attacker group has been publicly attributed. The exposed data included email addresses, full names, dates of birth, geographic locations, and salted password hashes. That combination is particularly sensitive: dates of birth paired with passwords increase the risk of account takeover, and the profile is detailed enough to support targeted phishing or impersonation attacks against affected individuals and their businesses. Animoto notified affected users and forced password resets following the breach. No class-action settlement or regulatory enforcement action has been publicly documented in connection with this incident. Affected users who reused their Animoto password on other accounts remain at risk of credential-based attacks and should treat any account sharing that password as compromised.

🏢 About Animoto

Animoto is a cloud-based video creation service that allows users to produce slideshow-style videos from photos, video clips, and music. The platform serves both consumers and businesses and is used for social media content, marketing, and personal projects. It operates on a subscription model with free and paid tiers and has been used by millions of individuals and small businesses globally.

Company | Online video creation and editing tools | Cloud-based video creation platform | USA
Private CompanyUSAanimoto.com

🗂 Why They Hold Your Data

Cloud-based creative platforms collect user accounts, emails, passwords, payment-adjacent data, and project-related records tied to video creation and publishing workflows.

📰 Recent Developments

Animoto continues to operate as a video creation platform. The company has faced increasing competition from video creation tools embedded in social media platforms and broader design tools. No major organizational changes have been prominently reported in the recent period.

🔍 Data Points Exposed

5 verified field types:
Password
Email
Name;Dates of birth
Email
Geographic locations
Names
Passwords

Exposure Categories

LocationGEO LOCS

Canonical Fields

date_of_birth, email_address, full_name, geographic_locations, password

🌐 Dark Web Verification

Confirmed
  • Dataset containing ~25.4M records identified in breach intelligence sources
  • Data indexed and searchable across breach notification platforms
  • Source: animoto.com-2018;Animoto Data Breach

🛡 Recommended Actions

⚠️ Do not assume this is low sensitivity.

1Freeze Your Credit
Place a credit freeze with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
2Expect Targeted Phishing
Watch for emails referencing this breach. Verify through official channels.
3Enable MFA Everywhere
Enable multi-factor authentication on all accounts.
4Monitor Accounts
Watch for unauthorized activity on financial and personal accounts.
5Check Your Exposure
ObscureIQ clients: this breach is indexed in your profile.

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ObscureIQ Advisory

We combine proprietary dark web access with commercial and restricted breach intelligence to verify exposure and assess real-world risk.

If you are:
  • A public-facing individual
  • A high-profile executive
  • A customer of Animoto
  • Or concerned about credential reuse
Services
AuditsWipesThreat MonitoringTraining

Classification Tags

MisconfigurationEmailPasswordsDOB

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