16 Billion Passwords Exposed In One Of Largest Breaches Ever: What To Know
With billions of usernames and passwords already in circulation online, a recently uncovered cache of stolen login credentials might be the biggest data breach in history.
Cyberattack
More than 16 billion entries were found by Cybernews researchers in 30 databases, many of which were connected to malware called infostealers.
The results, which were released on Wednesday, June 18, show that the compromised information includes development tools, VPNs, business services, and social media platforms.
Nearly all online services, including well-known ones like Apple, Facebook, Google, GitHub, and Telegram, as well as a number of government services, are accessible through the compromised datasets, according to Cybernews.
The majority of the recordings seem to be current and not simply taken from earlier events, according to Cybernews.
In May, a hack containing 184 million credentials was revealed, making it the only one of the 30 leaked datasets to be previously published. Now, that figure seems insignificant.
Elasticsearch and object storage systems were among the unprotected cloud services that momentarily made the compromised records public. The sources governing the data are still unknown, despite the fact that researchers were able to take screenshots.
Experts caution that once hackers take advantage of the new login information, the breach may result in widespread identity theft, account takeovers, and phishing attacks.
