Paidwork Data Breach Exposes Sensitive User Information
In March, freelance platform Paidwork reportedly suffered a data breach, with stolen information later offered for sale before being publicly published this month. The compromised data includes user profile details, banking information, payout histories, and bcrypt-hashed passwords.
Security researchers noted that approximately 35% of the exposed records were already linked to LinkedIn profiles, raising concerns about potential cross-platform targeting. The breach highlights ongoing risks to financial and personal data in digital work platforms, though the use of bcrypt hashing may mitigate immediate password exposure risks.
The incident underscores the need for heightened security measures in gig economy services handling sensitive user data. Further details remain under investigation.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7484745220350418944
PaidWork.in cybersecurity rating report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/paidwork-in
"id": "PAI1784507016",
"linkid": "paidwork-in",
"type": "Breach",
"date": "3/2026",
"severity": "85",
"impact": "4",
"explanation": "Attack with significant impact with customers data leaks"{'affected_entities': [{'industry': 'Gig Economy',
'name': 'Paidwork',
'type': 'Freelance Platform'}],
'data_breach': {'data_encryption': 'Bcrypt hashing for passwords',
'data_exfiltration': 'Yes',
'personally_identifiable_information': 'Yes',
'sensitivity_of_data': 'High',
'type_of_data_compromised': ['User profile details',
'Banking information',
'Payout histories',
'Bcrypt-hashed passwords']},
'description': 'In March, freelance platform Paidwork reportedly suffered a '
'data breach, with stolen information later offered for sale '
'before being publicly published this month. The compromised '
'data includes user profile details, banking information, '
'payout histories, and bcrypt-hashed passwords. Security '
'researchers noted that approximately 35% of the exposed '
'records were already linked to LinkedIn profiles, raising '
'concerns about potential cross-platform targeting. The breach '
'highlights ongoing risks to financial and personal data in '
'digital work platforms, though the use of bcrypt hashing may '
'mitigate immediate password exposure risks.',
'impact': {'brand_reputation_impact': 'Potential brand reputation impact due '
'to exposure of sensitive user data',
'data_compromised': 'User profile details, banking information, '
'payout histories, bcrypt-hashed passwords',
'identity_theft_risk': 'High',
'payment_information_risk': 'High'},
'initial_access_broker': {'data_sold_on_dark_web': 'Yes'},
'investigation_status': 'Under investigation',
'lessons_learned': 'The incident underscores the need for heightened security '
'measures in gig economy services handling sensitive user '
'data.',
'title': 'Paidwork Data Breach Exposes Sensitive User Information',
'type': 'Data Breach'}