Vedomosti Alleged Data Exposure
The 2012 Vedomosti data breach occurred in May 2012 when the MySQL production user database (db_ved_users) of Vedomosti (vedomosti.ru), Russia's leading national business and financial daily newspaper, was compromised and exfiltrated.
Exposed Data Types
8- Email addresses
- Passwords
- Names
- Usernames
- Phone numbers
- Employers
- Job titles
- Professional specializations
About This Record
What information was affected in the Vedomosti incident?
The leaked SQL database dumps (vedomosti.ru1.sql and vedomosti.ru2.sql) encompass corporate readers, subscribers, and journalists, exposing:
- Identity & Profile Data: Full names (first name, surname, patronymic) and platform nicknames.
- Authentication Credentials: User passwords stored completely in plaintext format.
- Contact Coordinates: Email addresses and personal or office telephone numbers.
- Professional & Corporate Details: Employer company names (company), industry specializations (comp_specialization), and corporate executive positions (comp_post).
- Subscription Metadata: Account registration timestamps (reg_date) and subscription flags.
How many accounts were affected?
Strict RFC canonical email validation verified 217,752 unique valid email addresses across the database dumps.
Technical analysis and security risks
The total absence of password hashing (plaintext storage) enabled immediate account compromise. The exposure of corporate executives, business analysts, and journalists alongside their active passwords creates severe exposure to credential stuffing, spear phishing, and corporate network penetration.
Recommended actions for affected individuals
Individuals who held accounts on Vedomosti should:
- Immediately change passwords on all other platforms where the same password was utilized.
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA / 2FA) across personal and enterprise 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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