Shadi.com 2016 Data Breach
ObscureIQ Breach Intelligence
Low SeverityWebsite / service breach
Shadi.com Muslim Matrimonial Platform Breach (2016): 2 Million User Accounts Including Plaintext Passwords Exposed
Online matrimonial service.
Verified by ObscureIQ Intelligence
34/100Breach Risk Index
25Data Value
10Market Recency
1377dSince Breach
Breach Intelligence Summary
Entity: Shadi.com · Actor: Unknown · Sources: 10 references
Attack: Misconfiguration
Profile: Platform · Matrimonial and matchmaking services · Online relationship platform · India / Global
Timeline: Breach (2016-07-09) · Indexed (Jul 20, 2022) · Year (2016)
Exposure: 2.0M records · 2 fields: Email Address, Password
Status: Confirmed
Executive Summary
In July 2016, Shadi.com - a Muslim marriage-introduction service serving the UK, US, and Canada - suffered a data breach that exposed approximately 2 million member records. LeakedSource, which obtained the dataset on 10 July 2016, reported 2,035,020 records consisting of email addresses and passwords, with the passwords stored in plaintext and no hashing or encryption applied. The incident surfaced alongside a separate breach of MuslimMatch.com, and the two datasets were frequently bundled in reporting and underground trading; the MD5-hashed passwords cited in some catalogues belong to the MuslimMatch data, not to Shadi.com. Have I Been Pwned added the breach to its index in July 2022 and flagged it as sensitive, meaning it is not publicly searchable. The core exposure - plaintext credentials tied to a religiously identifiable user base - drives ongoing risk of credential stuffing, account takeover, and targeted social-engineering or extortion attempts.
ObscureIQ assessment: Extremely sensitive. Exposure enables stalking, harassment, reputational harm, extortion, and identity linkage around family expectations, religion, caste, and relationship status.
Breach Impact
The breach exposed roughly 2 million member records - email addresses and passwords stored in plaintext with no hashing or encryption - making every affected credential immediately usable without any cracking effort. Beyond account takeover and credential stuffing against reused passwords, the exposure carries elevated personal risk because membership on a Muslim matrimonial platform implies religious identity and marriage intent, creating potential for targeted phishing, extortion, harassment, reputational harm, and family- or community-linked pressure. The dataset was distributed alongside the concurrent MuslimMatch.com breach and posted through underground and breach-search channels, widening the population of actors able to weaponize it. The primary sustained threat is credential reuse; the secondary threat is sensitivity-driven social engineering against a religiously identifiable set of individuals.
About Shadi.com
Shadi.com is a web-based Muslim marriage-introduction service that connects men and women in the UK, United States, Canada, and other countries who are seeking marriage. It operates in the matrimonial/matchmaking category rather than casual dating, and historically positioned itself around protecting member contact information to prevent unwanted communication. It should not be confused with Shaadi.com, the larger India-based People Group matrimonial platform; the two are unrelated entities that share a similar name. As a matchmaking service, Shadi.com collects email addresses, account credentials, profile details, and relationship-intent information tied to a religiously identifiable user base.
Why They Hold Your Data
Matrimonial platforms collect highly sensitive profile data, family details, religion or caste-related attributes, photos, messages, and relationship-intent records tied to matchmaking workflows.
Recent Developments
No significant public developments have been reported for Shadi.com since the 2016 breach; the service has maintained a low public profile and issued no substantial breach communications of record. The breach data continued to circulate through breach-aggregation and credential-search services (Have I Been Pwned, LeakedSource, and numerous mirror catalogues) in the years following disclosure, and HIBP added the dataset to its index in July 2022, flagging it as sensitive and not publicly searchable. Because the exposed credentials were stored in plaintext, the data remains directly usable for credential stuffing wherever affected members reused passwords, keeping the record operationally relevant nearly a decade later.
Data Points Exposed
2 verified field types
Email Address
Password Critical
Field names are shown in full for clarity and search visibility. Canonical machine keys are emitted only in this page’s structured data.
Exploitation & Downstream Threats
Threat Activity:High
Primary downstream threats:
- Credential stuffing against reused passwords across other platforms
- Targeted phishing campaigns using exposed email addresses
Threat vectors:
- Phishing, credential stuffing & account takeover
- Credential stuffing & account takeover
Recommended Actions
If you believe your information may be included:
Change Reused Passwords
Update this account and anywhere you reused the password; use a manager.
Enable MFA Everywhere
Turn on multi-factor authentication on email first, then financial accounts.
Report & Recover
If you spot misuse, start an official recovery plan and report fraud.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in the Shadi.com breach?▾
In July 2016, Shadi.com - a Muslim marriage-introduction service serving the UK, US, and Canada - suffered a data breach that exposed approximately 2 million member records. LeakedSource, which obtained the dataset on 10 July 2016, reported 2,035,020 records consisting of email addresses and…
What data was exposed?▾
Verified fields include Email Address, Password.
What should I do if I was affected?▾
Change reused passwords, enable MFA, and (if identity or financial data is involved) freeze your credit and monitor your accounts.
Sources & References
Every claim on this page is traceable. This breach draws on:
Breach Index
Cross-source
9ghz
Cross-source
BreachDirectory
Cross-source
BreachForums_Official_Index
Cross-source
BreachNet.pw
Cross-source
Cit0day
Cross-source
DataViper.io
Cross-source
HackNotice.com
Cross-source
Hacked-Emails (+8)
ObscureIQ Intelligence
ObscureIQ proprietary analysis
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