TVDB Security Breach: Find Out If Your Data Was Stolen

Back in November, TVDB had a security breach which resulted in the theft of usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords. If you’ve ever registered an account with TVDB, find out if you have had your account information stolen with our guide.

TVDB stands for TV Database. It is used by a large number of Kodi addons to provide metadata and information for popular television shows.   Some of the information it shows includes TV poster, plot, actors, and other info. You don’t need to take any action in order to use TVDB; any addon that has integrated it will show you information.

However, we often suggest to users that they enter in their own TVDB API Key rather than using the default one that comes installed with each Kodi addon. The reason for this is because the API Key is only supposed to be used by one account and one person. This means that if TVDB finds out that an addon shares its key with everyone, it can ban the account for breach of service.

You may have seen that the TVDB key is not working because you try to access some of the playlists provided by TVDB like “Networks” or “People Watching” and it does not work. Users that use their own API Key are less likely to see these playlists stop working.

Back in November of 2018, TVDB’s website had its data breached by a hacker. They stole the usernames, email address, and hashed passwords for millions of TVDB users. This means that if you’ve ever signed up to TVDB in order to create your own API Key, your data may have been compromised.

Luckily, there is an easy way to see if you’ve been affected by the TVDB security breach. There is a website called “Have I Been Pwned” that lets you know if your email address or information has ever been taken during a hack of any website. It will tell you if you were affected by the TVDB security breach or any other hack:

Click here to visit the “Have I Been Pwned” website

Simply enter in your email address and it will tell you if your information has ever been compromised. You can also enter in common user names you use on the internet and it will tell you about all possible data beaches.

Hopefully this tip helps you out! If your info has been taken, it is best that you change the passwords associated with that username or email address immediately. There are bad people on the internet who run scripts that simple try every single hacked username and password on websites in order to try and gain access. Worst case is someone could gain access to your bank or other sensitive information.