Anyone with an email account – or those who use online services such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram – needs to be on high alert. It’s just been confirmed that a massive data breach has recently taken place, which appears to have exposed a staggering 180 million unique login credentials. Details that have been leaked include email, social media and gaming passwords, with it thought that Meta, Google and Microsoft accounts may have been exposed in the shock breach.
The issue was discovered by cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler, who says he found an unsecured database containing over 184 million unique login credentials. It’s unclear who else has seen the data, but now is not a time to be complacent.
“The publicly exposed database was not password-protected or encrypted,” explained Fowler.
“It contained 184,162,718 unique logins and passwords, totalling a massive 47.42 GB of raw credential data. In a limited sampling of the exposed documents, I saw thousands of files that included emails, usernames, passwords, and the URL links to the login or authorisation for the accounts.
“The database contained login and password credentials for a wide range of services, applications, and accounts, including email providers, Microsoft products, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Roblox, and many more.”
Although the database has since been removed from public view, it’s now vital that everyone checks their passwords and considers making some urgent changes.
If a cyber crook gains both the username and password, it’s easy for them to start hacking accounts and stealing personal data. Switching things up will instantly make accounts much harder to crack.
It’s also a good time to think about setting up two-factor authentication on accounts, which means nobody can log in without getting a passcode sent to a separate device.
Speaking about the latest breach, the team at Malwarebytes said: “There is no way to tell whether anyone else found the exposed database before it was removed from public access. However, the exposure of such a massive dataset should serve as a wake-up call.”
Advice from these security experts has also been issued and you’d be wise to follow these 5 top tips.
• Change your passwords regularly, and don’t reuse them across multiple accounts. Use unique, complex passwords for every service.
• Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever possible. This makes it harder for criminals to take over your account.
• Regularly audit and clean your email inbox of sensitive documents and old passwords. Jeremiah pointed out that “people unknowingly treat their email accounts like free cloud storage and keep years’ worth of sensitive documents, such as tax forms, medical records, contracts, and passwords without considering how sensitive they are.”
• Use an up-to-date and active anti-malware solution that can detect and remove infostealer malware.
• Be careful about what you download and educate yourself on recognizing phishing emails, as these remain the most common infection vectors.