---
title: Use Dropbox? It's Time to Change Your Password Right Now
description: Storage site Dropbox suffered a big hack in 2012, causing a leak of user 68 million emails and passwords. Time to change your password.
authors:
  - name: Alexandra Mondalek
    url: https://money.com/author/alexandra-mondalek/
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published: '2016-08-31T13:46:31.000Z'
modified: '2016-08-31T13:46:31.000Z'
section: Technology
tags:
  - Dropbox
  - Encryption
  - Hack
  - privacy
  - pubdesk
  - Security
  - Tech
word_count: 174
canonical: https://money.com/dropbox-hack-passwords-leaked/
type: Article
source: structured-blocks
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> **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/).

![Key Speakers At The Brooklyn Beta Conference](https://img.money.com/2016/08/gettyimages-154019883.jpg)

In 2012, the cloud-based storage company Dropbox was hacked, resulting in a compromise of 68 million user emails. What the company didn't realize at the time, though, was that user passwords were also stolen, [the *Guardian* reports](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/31/dropbox-hack-passwords-68m-data-breach).

Recognizing the scope of the password hack, last week Dropbox reset an unknown number of user passwords and released a [note](https://blogs.dropbox.com/dropbox/2016/08/resetting-passwords-to-keep-your-files-safe/) to users indicating they should take preventative measures to change their passwords and that they "don’t believe that any accounts have been improperly accessed." The original data hack was a result of a Dropbox employee using the same password for his LinkedIn account as for his Dropbox account. (The first major [LinkedIn hack](https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/18/117-million-linkedin-emails-and-passwords-from-a-2012-hack-just-got-posted-online/) was also in 2012.)

If you haven't changed your Dropbox password since 2012, you should do so right away—make sure it's a password you don't already use on another site. If you want to check if your email or password has been released on the Internet as a result of the hack, search for your email on the site [Have I Been Pwned](https://haveibeenpwned.com/).

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