Cybercrime group ShinyHunters claims it’s responsible for intrusion, demands bitcoin as ransom
Published Dec 16, 2025 • 2 minute read
Pornhub is notifying more than 200 million premium users about a security breach.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
- Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
- Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
- Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
- Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
- Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
- Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
- Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
- Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
- Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.
REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
- Access articles from across Canada with one account.
- Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
- Enjoy additional articles per month.
- Get email updates from your favourite authors.
THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
- Access articles from across Canada with one account
- Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments
- Enjoy additional articles per month
- Get email updates from your favourite authors
Article content
The adult entertainment website, which is owned by an Ottawa-based private equity firm, said that users’ data and search history may have been stolen.
Article content
Article content
“A recent cybersecurity incident involving Mixpanel, a third-party data analytics provider, has impacted some Pornhub Premium users,” Pornhub recently confirmed, per the U.K. Daily Mail.
Pornhub uses the third-party system to analyze site traffic. Hackers potentially exposed limited records of how some users interacted with the platform.
“Passwords, payment details and financial information remain secure and were not exposed,” Pornhub said.
Cybercriminals allegedly have email addresses, search keywords
However, in an extortion demand sent to the company, the cybercriminals alleged to have a massive data set of records that included email addresses, locations, video titles, search keywords, activity types and timestamps for more than 200 million entries, technology news outlet BleepingComputer reported.
By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
Article content
Article content
Premium users pay $14.99 per month to access millions of videos as well as more than 100,000 premium videos that non-paying users can’t access.
“The unauthorized party was able to use this unauthorized access to extract a limited set of analytics events for some users,” Pornhub said.
Pornhub added that it has since secured the affected accounts and stopped the unauthorized access.
The adult website said that it has not worked with Mixpanel since 2023, meaning the stolen records are from that year and earlier, BleepingComputer reported.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Hackers reportedly demanding bitcoin to delete data
Mixpanel CEO Jen Taylor said in a statement: “We took comprehensive steps to contain and eradicate unauthorized access and secure impacted user accounts.
Article content
“We engaged external cybersecurity partners to remediate and respond to the incident.”
Mixpanel told BleepingComputer that it couldn’t verify that the Pornhub data being circulated came from the November incident.
Cybercrime group ShinyHunters claimed that it was responsible for the intrusion.
“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 is owned by Ethical Capital Partners, which in 2023 acquired Pornhub’s parent company MindGeek.
Read More
Article content







