Renren Data Breach
The 2011 Renren (人人网) data breach occurred in December 2011 when Renren (renren.com), historically recognized as China's leading real-name social network ("the Facebook of China"), suffered a catastrophic data disclosure that was subsequently acknowledged by the company.
Exposed Data Types
2- Email addresses
- Passwords
About This Breach
What information was affected in the Renren incident?
The leaked text database export (Renren.txt) comprises 4,768,600 user accounts. The compromised data classes include:
- Contact Coordinates: User primary email addresses (predominantly
@qq.com,@126.com,@163.com,@sina.com, and@hotmail.com). - Authentication Credentials: User account passwords stored entirely in plaintext (unencrypted and unhashed).
How many accounts were affected?
Strict RFC 5322 ASCII canonical verification confirmed 3,031,620 unique valid email addresses across the database.
Technical analysis and security risks
The total absence of cryptographic protection meant credentials were immediately usable without cracking. Threat actors weaponized the cleartext credentials in massive credential stuffing campaigns against contemporary Chinese web platforms, email providers, and social portals.
Corporate disclosure & recommended actions
Following the disclosure, Renren officially confirmed the incident, advising its user base to immediately reset their passwords. Affected individuals should:
- Immediately update passwords on any email services and external platforms where identical credentials were used.
- Activate multi-factor authentication (MFA / 2FA) across all active accounts.
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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