The hacking group ShinyHunters has claimed it stole sensitive data belonging to premium customers of Pornhub and is threatening to publish the information unless a ransom is paid in Bitcoin. The group made the claim on Tuesday, raising fresh concerns about data security at one of the world’s most visited adult content platforms.
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Pornhub.com receives an average of 4.01 billion monthly visits as of August 2025 and had around 858 million unique monthly visitors in October 2025. Pornhub.com is one of the most visited websites globally. Pornhub.com’s 2025 Year in Review shows a continued rise in female viewership, with women accounting for 38 percent of all visitors worldwide.
Reuters news report said the hackers shared a sample of the data. The news agency has authenticated a part of the data.
Former Users Confirm Authenticity of Data
At least three former Pornhub customers, including two men in Canada and one in the United States, confirmed to Reuters that the data linked to them appeared to be genuine. The individuals said the information was several years old and spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.
“We’re demanding a ransom payment in Bitcoin to prevent the publication of Pornhub data and delete the data,” ShinyHunters told Reuters during an online exchange.
Pornhub and its corporate owner, Ottawa-based Ethical Capital Partners, did not respond to requests for comment.
ShinyHunters Shares Sample Premium User Data
Pornhub premium service offers high-definition videos, ad-free viewing, and virtual reality features.
ShinyHunters said it was in possession of data linked to 14 Pornhub Premium users. Reuters was able to match details of six individuals in the hackers’ sample to information previously leaked online and preserved by dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs. Three of those individuals confirmed they had previously subscribed to Pornhub Premium.
Reuters could not determine how ShinyHunters obtained the data. The hacking group declined to provide technical details about the breach.
Mixpanel Incident Adds Complexity
In a statement issued on December 12, Pornhub disclosed a recent cybersecurity incident involving third-party analytics provider Mixpanel. Pornhub said the issue affected an undisclosed number of Pornhub Premium users and involved a limited set of analytics events within Mixpanel’s environment.
Mixpanel separately disclosed a cybersecurity incident on November 27. However, the company denied that Pornhub data was taken during that event.
In a statement to Reuters, Mixpanel said Pornhub data was last accessed by a legitimate employee account at Pornhub’s parent company in 2023. “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,” the company said.
ShinyHunters claimed the stolen Pornhub data was connected to the recent Mixpanel incident. Mixpanel rejected the assertion, saying it conducted a thorough investigation 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 Mixpanel spokesperson said.
ShinyHunters’ Growing Track Record ShinyHunters is a well-known hacking group linked to a series of high-profile data breaches and extortion attempts in recent months. The group has previously claimed responsibility for hacks involving customer data from Salesforce users and luxury retailers in the United Kingdom.
Rajani Baburajan
