Bookmate 2018 Data Breach
Platform · E-book subscription services · Digital reading platform · Global
Bookmate E-Book Subscription Platform Breach (2018): 8 Million User Accounts Including DOB & Passwords Exposed
E-book subscription service.
Confirmed · ObscureIQ Intelligence
Breach Risk Index i
30/100
Lower riskHigher risk
Lower: limited current risk based on data value and recency.
Data Sensitivity i
StandardExposed data is largely lower-sensitivity. Standard identity-protection precautions are advised.
8.0MRecords
2018Year
The Breach Risk Index (BRI) is a proprietary 0–100 score rating how dangerous a breach is right now, based on how recently the data has been circulating on the dark web and how valuable it is to attackers.
Breach Summary
In mid-2018 (8 July 2018), the e-book service Bookmate was breached and the data was sold in early 2019 within the large multi-site collection attributed to the actor known as GnosticPlayers. The set contained roughly 8 million records (about 4 million unique email addresses) including names, usernames, dates of birth, genders, geographic locations, IP addresses, and passwords stored as salted SHA-512 hashes.
Full threat analysis, exploitation vectors, and principal guidance below.
12 additional sections · verified field analysis · defensive doctrine
Querying breach corpus…
Cross-referencing exposed field types…
Resolving threat-actor attribution…
Compiling principal risk advisory…
8.0M records analyzed
About Bookmate
Bookmate is a social e-book subscription service that lets readers access and share a catalogue of books and track their reading across devices.
Why They Hold Your Data
Digital reading platforms collect user accounts, emails, subscription data, reading history, saved libraries, and engagement records tied to e-book and audiobook access.
Recent Developments
The stolen data was sold in early 2019 as part of a large multi-site collection offered on the dark web.
Data Points Exposed
8 verified field types
Date of Birth High
Email Address
Full Name
Gender
Geographic location
IP Address
Password High
Username
Breach Impact
Dates of birth combined with names and contact/location data raise identity-fraud and profiling risk beyond simple credential exposure; salted SHA-512 offers reasonable password protection.
Exploitation & 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
Principal Risk Advisory
What this means for a principal
A consumer-service breach: contact and account data supports phishing, account takeover and profile enrichment. For a high-profile principal the main risk is credible impersonation and enrichment of existing exposure.
What You Should Do
- Reset any reused passwords and enable MFA on email first, then financial accounts.
- Do not use unofficial 'am I affected' lookups; several are themselves harvesting operations.
How ObscureIQ Can Help
- Corpus confirmation: determine whether and where the principal (plus household and staff) appear in this dataset and which specific fields are exposed for them.
- Exposure mapping: cross-reference the exposed identifiers against broker-available data to size and prioritize the principal's wider footprint.
- ThreatWatch tuned to this incident's identifiers and misuse pattern (impersonation and targeting patterns, not generic credential monitoring).
G
Threat Actor: GnosticPlayersConfidence: Medium
Motivation: Financial
A prolific breach seller persona active around 2019 and associated with large batches of stolen account databases. Some modern reporting groups GnosticPlayers with the broader ShinyHunters data-theft ecosystem, but that relationship should be handled cautiously.
This breach is linked to the GnosticPlayers batches (2019) campaign (2019 related breaches tracked by ObscureIQ). See the full campaign analysis →
Protect Yourself
Check If You're Affected
Enter your email to check whether your data appears in this breach. We’ll send a 6-digit code to confirm it’s your address.
High-Risk? Get an Exposure Audit
Executives, public figures, and high-visibility operators can receive tailored exposure intelligence and hardening guidance.
Request Consultation