'We’re demanding a ransom payment in Bitcoin to prevent the publication of [Pornhub] data and delete the data,' ShinyHunters says in an online chat'We’re demanding a ransom payment in Bitcoin to prevent the publication of [Pornhub] data and delete the data,' ShinyHunters says in an online chat

Hacking group ‘ShinyHunters’ threatens to expose premium users of sex site Pornhub

2025/12/17 13:03

WASHINGTON, USA – The hacking group “ShinyHunters” said on Tuesday, December 16, it has stolen data belonging to premium customers of the leading sex website Pornhub and is threatening to publish it.

Although Reuters could not immediately establish the scope, scale, or details of the breach, the hackers provided a sample of the data which the news agency was able to partially authenticate.

At least three former Pornhub customers — two men in Canada and a man in the US — confirmed to Reuters that the data pertaining to them was authentic, albeit several years old. They spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.

“We’re demanding a ransom payment in Bitcoin to prevent the publication of [Pornhub] data and delete the data,” ShinyHunters told Reuters in an online chat.

Pornhub and its corporate owners, the Ottawa, Canada-based Ethical Capital Partners, did not return messages. News of the breach was reported earlier by cybersecurity news site Bleeping Computer.

Pornhub, which claims more than 100 million daily visits and 36 billion visits per year, is one of the web’s most popular purveyors of sexual content, particularly videos, many of which are free to view.

ShinyHunters shared data from what it said were 14 users of Pornhub’s premium service, which offers high-definition videos, ad-free watching, and virtual reality.

Reuters was able to match the details of six people in the ShinyHunters’ data to information dumped online during previous data breaches and preserved by the dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs. Three of the affected people confirmed to Reuters that they had, at one point, been signed up to Pornhub’s premium service.

Reuters could not immediately ascertain how ShinyHunters acquired the data. ShinyHunters said they would not go into detail about the breach.

In a statement issued on December 12, Pornhub disclosed what it said was a recent cybersecurity incident involving third-party data analytics provider Mixpanel which affected an undisclosed number of Pornhub Premium users. The statement said the incident occurred in Mixpanel’s environment and involved a “limited set of analytics events for some users.”

Mixpanel, which offers its clients detailed visibility into user data and activities, disclosed a cybersecurity incident on November 27.

The company said in a statement provided to Reuters on Tuesday that it was aware of Pornhub’s statement, but that it “can find no indication that this data was stolen from our November 2025 security incident or otherwise.”

Pornhub’s data with Mixpanel was last accessed by “a legitimate employee account at Pornhub’s parent company in 2023,” according to the statement. “If this data is in the hands of an unauthorized party, we do not believe that is the result of a security incident at Mixpanel.”

ShinyHunters told Reuters the data was connected to the recent Mixpanel incident. Mixpanel denied ShinyHunters’ claim, saying the company had done a thorough investigation into the November incident with external cybersecurity experts and notified all affected clients.

“We are confident Pornhub was not among those clients and that this data is unrelated to the November incident,” a spokesperson for the company said in an email.

ShinyHunters is an established hacking group linked to a string of high-profile hacks and extortion attempts in recent months, including data on customers of Salesforce and luxury retailers in the U.K. – Rappler.com

Market Opportunity
Sex Token Logo
Sex Token Price(SEX)
$48,833.86
$48,833.86$48,833.86
-17.52%
USD
Sex Token (SEX) Live Price Chart
Disclaimer: The articles reposted on this site are sourced from public platforms and are provided for informational purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the views of MEXC. All rights remain with the original authors. If you believe any content infringes on third-party rights, please contact [email protected] for removal. MEXC makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the content and is not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided. The content does not constitute financial, legal, or other professional advice, nor should it be considered a recommendation or endorsement by MEXC.

You May Also Like

Why 100 Percent Test Coverage is Not Possible — Lessons from Testing Banking and Healthcare Systems

Why 100 Percent Test Coverage is Not Possible — Lessons from Testing Banking and Healthcare Systems

Quality is not about testing everything; quality is about testing what is most important.
Share
Hackernoon2025/12/26 16:05
US eyes crypto mining at disputed nuclear plant in Russia-Ukraine conflict: report

US eyes crypto mining at disputed nuclear plant in Russia-Ukraine conflict: report

The plant is located in Ukraine and has been under Russian control since 2022, with its future management a key issue in peace talks.
Share
Coinstats2025/12/26 18:58
Google's AP2 protocol has been released. Does encrypted AI still have a chance?

Google's AP2 protocol has been released. Does encrypted AI still have a chance?

Following the MCP and A2A protocols, the AI Agent market has seen another blockbuster arrival: the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), developed by Google. This will clearly further enhance AI Agents' autonomous multi-tasking capabilities, but the unfortunate reality is that it has little to do with web3AI. Let's take a closer look: What problem does AP2 solve? Simply put, the MCP protocol is like a universal hook, enabling AI agents to connect to various external tools and data sources; A2A is a team collaboration communication protocol that allows multiple AI agents to cooperate with each other to complete complex tasks; AP2 completes the last piece of the puzzle - payment capability. In other words, MCP opens up connectivity, A2A promotes collaboration efficiency, and AP2 achieves value exchange. The arrival of AP2 truly injects "soul" into the autonomous collaboration and task execution of Multi-Agents. Imagine AI Agents connecting Qunar, Meituan, and Didi to complete the booking of flights, hotels, and car rentals, but then getting stuck at the point of "self-payment." What's the point of all that multitasking? So, remember this: AP2 is an extension of MCP+A2A, solving the last mile problem of AI Agent automated execution. What are the technical highlights of AP2? The core innovation of AP2 is the Mandates mechanism, which is divided into real-time authorization mode and delegated authorization mode. Real-time authorization is easy to understand. The AI Agent finds the product and shows it to you. The operation can only be performed after the user signs. Delegated authorization requires the user to set rules in advance, such as only buying the iPhone 17 when the price drops to 5,000. The AI Agent monitors the trigger conditions and executes automatically. The implementation logic is cryptographically signed using Verifiable Credentials (VCs). Users can set complex commission conditions, including price ranges, time limits, and payment method priorities, forming a tamper-proof digital contract. Once signed, the AI Agent executes according to the conditions, with VCs ensuring auditability and security at every step. Of particular note is the "A2A x402" extension, a technical component developed by Google specifically for crypto payments, developed in collaboration with Coinbase and the Ethereum Foundation. This extension enables AI Agents to seamlessly process stablecoins, ETH, and other blockchain assets, supporting native payment scenarios within the Web3 ecosystem. What kind of imagination space can AP2 bring? After analyzing the technical principles, do you think that's it? Yes, in fact, the AP2 is boring when it is disassembled alone. Its real charm lies in connecting and opening up the "MCP+A2A+AP2" technology stack, completely opening up the complete link of AI Agent's autonomous analysis+execution+payment. From now on, AI Agents can open up many application scenarios. For example, AI Agents for stock investment and financial management can help us monitor the market 24/7 and conduct independent transactions. Enterprise procurement AI Agents can automatically replenish and renew without human intervention. AP2's complementary payment capabilities will further expand the penetration of the Agent-to-Agent economy into more scenarios. Google obviously understands that after the technical framework is established, the ecological implementation must be relied upon, so it has brought in more than 60 partners to develop it, almost covering the entire payment and business ecosystem. Interestingly, it also involves major Crypto players such as Ethereum, Coinbase, MetaMask, and Sui. Combined with the current trend of currency and stock integration, the imagination space has been doubled. Is web3 AI really dead? Not entirely. Google's AP2 looks complete, but it only achieves technical compatibility with Crypto payments. It can only be regarded as an extension of the traditional authorization framework and belongs to the category of automated execution. There is a "paradigm" difference between it and the autonomous asset management pursued by pure Crypto native solutions. The Crypto-native solutions under exploration are taking the "decentralized custody + on-chain verification" route, including AI Agent autonomous asset management, AI Agent autonomous transactions (DeFAI), AI Agent digital identity and on-chain reputation system (ERC-8004...), AI Agent on-chain governance DAO framework, AI Agent NPC and digital avatars, and many other interesting and fun directions. Ultimately, once users get used to AI Agent payments in traditional fields, their acceptance of AI Agents autonomously owning digital assets will also increase. And for those scenarios that AP2 cannot reach, such as anonymous transactions, censorship-resistant payments, and decentralized asset management, there will always be a time for crypto-native solutions to show their strength? The two are more likely to be complementary rather than competitive, but to be honest, the key technological advancements behind AI Agents currently all come from web2AI, and web3AI still needs to keep up the good work!
Share
PANews2025/09/18 07:00