Pornhub has alerted its premium users that a cybersecurity breach involving third-party provider Mixpanel has affected a “limited set of analytics events for some users.”
Newsweek has contacted Pornhub and Mixpanel via email for comment.
Why It Matters
The incident, tied to the ShinyHunters hacking group, has heightened concerns about supply-chain cybersecurity and user privacy, particularly as the affected data may have included behavioral metrics such as viewing history, according to Cyber Security News. It reflects industry fears that personal and behavioral data, if exposed, could result in targeted extortion, reputational harm, or further attacks against users.
Pornhub’s situation underscores the persistent risks organizations face from third-party vendors—even years after relationships end—and comes as the site is already facing increased scrutiny due to evolving U.S. regulatory requirements over age verification and privacy standards.
What To Know
Pornhub, one of the world’s largest adult video platforms, disclosed that a breach at its former third-party analytics provider led to the exposure of historical user activity data for select Premium members.
The adult site’s cybersecurity breach originated not within its own systems, but in Mixpanel, an analytics provider that served the adult streaming service up until 2021.
On Friday, Pornhub issued a public notice confirming that some Premium users had been impacted following a cybersecurity incident at Mixpanel.
Members of the ShinyHunters hacking group claimed responsibility for the breach, advertising access to Pornhub Premium analytics data alongside other high-profile victims like Google and ChatGPT.
In an extortion demand sent to Pornhub, the notorious hackers claimed to have taken a data set including about 94GB of records detailing email addresses, location, video titles, search keywords, activity types, and timestamps for over 200 million entries, Bleeping Computer reported.
The incident may have specifically exposed analytics events, such as session logs and related metadata from historical records. No passwords, payment details, or government-issued IDs were included in the breach.
The Pornhub breach also impacted other Mixpanel clients, including OpenAI and CoinTracker, Bleeping Computer has reported.
ShinyHunters have a history of similar attacks, often selling or ransoming sensitive data sets on criminal forums.
While Pornhub stopped working with Mixpanel in 2021, legacy analytics data remained in the latter’s environment, thus becoming vulnerable to this attack.
Mixpanel itself was compromised on November 8, 2025, as a result of a sophisticated SMS phishing (smishing) attack, according to a statement by CEO Jen Taylor.
Taylor said: “We took comprehensive steps to contain and eradicate unauthorized access and secure impacted user accounts. We engaged external cybersecurity partners to remediate and respond to the incident.”
The company told Bleeping Computer that it could not confirm the stolen Pornhub data originated from its November breach, suggesting potential alternative vectors or timing.
What People Are Saying
Pornhub said: “This was not a breach of Pornhub Premium’s systems. No passwords, credentials, payment details or government IDs were compromised or exposed. Like Google, ChatGPT and others who were compromised as a part of the same attack, Mixpanel informed us of this breach. Although we have not worked with Mixpanel since 2021, it is our responsibility to ensure we inform you of this event.”
Mixpanel told Bleeping Computer: “Mixpanel is aware of reports that Pornhub has been extorted with data that was allegedly stolen from us. We can find no indication that this data was stolen from Mixpanel during our November 2025 security Incident or otherwise.
“The 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.”
Of its November breach, Mixpanel CEO Jen Taylor said: “We proactively communicated with all impacted customers. If you have not heard from us directly, you were not impacted. We continue to prioritize security as a core tenet of our company, products and services. We are committed to supporting our customers and communicating transparently about this incident.”
What Happens Next
Pornhub has notified affected users and, in public statements, urged vigilance against phishing attempts or suspicious emails.
A statement said: “While our investigation is ongoing, we encourage all users to remain vigilant by monitoring their accounts for any suspicious emails or unusual activity.”
Pornhub has enlisted cybersecurity experts, launched an internal probe, and notified authorities while maintaining that password and payment data remain uncompromised.
No password resets are currently advised, but users are encouraged to monitor for unusual activity.
