# Creator, Have I Been Pwned

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/experts/troy-hunt/
Last updated: 2026-09-20
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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## Bio

Troy Hunt created Have I Been Pwned in December 2013 as a way for people to find out whether their accounts appeared in a data breach. It now indexes billions of breached records, and its Pwned Passwords service is queried by password managers, identity platforms, and browsers.

Profile built from public project and press records.

## Where their work shows up

[NIST 800-63](https://startwithidentity.com/regulations/) tells you to screen new passwords against known-breached lists. Pwned Passwords is how most implementations actually do it, using a k-anonymity range query so the checking service never learns the password or its full hash. That single design choice made breached-credential screening safe enough to be a default, which is why it now sits inside [CIAM](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-ciam/) platforms and [password managers](https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-password-managers-for-business/) rather than being a security team's side project. See the [breach teardowns](https://startwithidentity.com/breaches/) for what the underlying data is drawn from.