Brinztech Alert: The Alleged Database of Matomo is Leaked

Dark Web News Analysis

The dark web news reports a significant data privacy incident involving Matomo, a widely used open-source web analytics platform often marketed as a privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics. A threat actor on a hacker forum is sharing a massive SQL database allegedly belonging to the organization.

The leaked file is substantial, weighing in at 12.6 GB. The presence of a full SQL dump suggests a catastrophic compromise of a backend server, potentially involving Matomo’s Cloud environment or their internal corporate systems. The data reportedly includes extensive Analytics Data, User Configurations, and potentially Personal Information collected by the platform. If this breach affects the SaaS version of Matomo (Matomo Cloud), thousands of organizations relying on it for GDPR-compliant tracking could be exposed.

Key Cybersecurity Insights

Breaches of analytics platforms are “Tier 1” business intelligence threats because they reveal the inner workings of an organization’s digital strategy:

• Competitive Intelligence Theft: The most immediate risk for businesses is the exposure of Traffic Data. A 12.6 GB dump likely contains detailed logs of visitor sources, conversion rates, top-performing pages, and marketing campaign performance. Competitors can use this intelligence to reverse-engineer a victim’s marketing strategy and poach their most valuable traffic sources.
• Privacy Paradox (GDPR): Matomo’s core selling point is data ownership and privacy compliance. A leak of this magnitude undermines that trust. If the SQL dump contains unanonymized Visitor IP Addresses or User IDs, it creates a massive compliance headache for European companies that chose Matomo specifically to avoid GDPR issues.
• SQL Injection Vulnerability: The format of the leak (SQL file) strongly suggests the attack vector was SQL Injection (SQLi) or a compromised database backup. This indicates that the attacker had direct read access to the database structure and was able to exfiltrate the entire schema and data.
• Session Hijacking: If the database contains Session Tokens or Password Hashes for Matomo admin accounts, attackers could hijack analytics dashboards to inject malicious JavaScript (e.g., credit card skimmers) into the websites being tracked, turning the analytics tool into a malware distribution vector.

Mitigation Strategies

To protect digital strategy and visitor privacy, the following strategies are recommended:

• Platform Verification: Organizations using Matomo Cloud should urgently contact support to confirm if their instance was part of the 12.6 GB leak. Self-hosted users should verify they are not running vulnerable versions susceptible to SQLi.
• Password Rotation: All administrators of Matomo dashboards must immediately rotate their passwords and enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
• Script Auditing: Check the integrity of the Matomo tracking code (matomo.js) on your websites. Ensure no unauthorized changes have been pushed through the tag manager or analytics configuration.
• Data Review: If the breach is confirmed, legal teams must assess whether visitor PII (like IP addresses) was exposed, which would trigger GDPR or CCPA breach notification requirements to end-users.

Secure Your Business with Brinztech — Global Cybersecurity Solutions

Brinztech protects organizations worldwide from evolving cyber threats. Whether you’re a startup or a global enterprise, our expert solutions keep your digital assets safe and your operations running smoothly.

Questions or Feedback?

For expert advice, use our ‘Ask an Analyst’ feature. Brinztech does not warrant the validity of external claims. For general inquiries or to report this post, please email us: contact@brinztech.com