Bought Takeda Stock? Hackers Have Your Data

Ever used Takeda or bought some Takeda stock? Great news – your data is now in the hands of hackers.

Preface

According to multiple sources on the web, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the third largest pharmaceutical company in Japan, has suffered a data breach and lost data pertaining to more than two million users.

What Happened with the Company Behind Takeda Stock?

At the middle of April 2025, news started going around that Takeda.com – the company behind Takeda stock – has suffered a data breach and lost data pertaining to more than two (2) million of its customers. A threat actor going by the alias „betway“ has allegedly listed the data on a hacking forum saying that the data is now listed for public sale and includes a vast trove of information including, but not limited to full names, birth dates, last activity dates, physical addresses, and even education information:

Is the Takeda Stock Data Breach Legitimate?

While the news of the Takeda stock data breach haven‘t been announced and thus confirmed by the company itself, various news outlets have picked up the screenshot shared by the hacker.

According to some, the data sample „contains only several users and it is hard to tell if it is really legitimate“, though it may well be that the Takeda stock data breach mentioning terms like „pharmacist“ and the like refers to the customers of Takeda.com rather than its employees because the sample of the data shared by the hacker includes attributes used to track client activity.

How to Protect Myself?

While the news of the Takeda.com data breach haven‘t been confirmed by the company, there are a couple of ways you can protect your assets online:

1. Don‘t forget to register for data breach notifications on data breach search engines like BreachDirectory.com
2. Make use of data breach search engines and search for your email address, username, or IP address to determine if those data classes do put you at risk of identity theft.
3. If your data is stolen, be mindful of the website it comes out of (i.e. the data breach that affects you) as well as what data is stolen. Based on that information, please change applicable information (e.g. your password and the like.)
4. If you are a developer, make use of the BreachDirectory API as the API will provide you with the ability to implement the data inside of the data breach search engine into your own product and use it for your own use case. Also, be mindful of the applications you develop; reading books, and attending seminars and conferences is a great place to start if you‘re trying to obtain information on how best to build secure applications and databases.

FAQ

Did Takeda Stock Suffer a Data Breach?

It appears that Takeda.com has indeed suffered a data breach. The extent of the data breach is hard to confirm at present, though the hacker says that he has access to data pertaining to more than 2 million users and data includes sensitive details like full names, birth dates, last activity dates, physical addresses, and even information related to the education of the user.

How to Protect Myself From Identity Theft and Related Attacks?

To keep yourself safe from identity theft, make good use of data breach search engines, and if you find yourself developing applications, read up on the best ways to protect user data from harm by reading books like Hacking MySQL: Breaking, Optimizing, and Securing MySQL for Your Use Case.