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Have I Been Pwned (HIBP)


Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) is a website that allows users to search and find out if an email address's password has been compromised by data breaches. The service is a popular and commonly-used tool in IT security.


As a database service compiled from known leak sites, the service allows users to quickly check to see if a particular email account has been compromised by a data breach. The database is compiled from crawls of a number of websites and database dumps. Some of these sites are believed to purchase account information from hackers.


HIBP was created after a large data breach at Adobe in October 2013. Since the site's creation, HIBP has become legitimized as a security tool by tech-savvy users to keep their information safe. Corporations trying to assist users after data breaches also sometimes offer HIBP links in notification emails.


Have I Been Pwned was created and independently run by Troy Hunt, a Microsoft Regional Director. In June 2018, it was announced that HIBP had partnered with Mozilla Firefox and 1Password to integrate the service into new products.


Pwn is a hacker/gamer variation on the word own and a leet speak term meaning to defeat overwhelmingly or to dominate.

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