RootsWeb 2015 Data Breach
The 2015 RootsWeb data breach is a credential dataset associated with November 7, 2015, and discovered by Ancestry in 2017 in an old RootsWeb server file. It must not be presented as a direct breach of Ancestry DNA, family-tree, payment, or primary Ancestry systems.
Exposed Data Types
3- Email addresses
- Plain text passwords
- Usernames
About This Breach
The external source reports 297,806 accounts and local search contains 297,783 records, a difference of 23. The three reported fields are emails, usernames, and plaintext passwords. Neither measure means unique people, active RootsWeb or Ancestry customers, or rows containing every field together.
DNA, family-tree content, payment cards, Social Security numbers, physical addresses, and health data are not classes in this record. A match does not establish identity, a RootsWeb or Ancestry account, a family relationship, password ownership or currentness, field co-occurrence, account takeover, or misuse.
If the old password genuinely belonged to the person and was reused elsewhere, it should be replaced with a unique password. Messages using family-tree invitations, archive access, or security notices should be verified through an independent official channel.
Verification and editorial method
LeakData compares the incident name, date, affected-record count, and exposed data types with accessible sources. Unverified fields are not presented as facts, and records are updated when new evidence becomes available.
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