NEW YORK (AP) According to researchers at cybersecurity publication Cybernews, billions of login credentials have been stolen and aggregated into online datasets, providing criminals with previously unheard-of access to accounts that people use on a daily basis.
A study released this week claims that researchers at Cybernews have just uncovered 30 leaked datasets, each of which has a significant quantity of compromised login credentials totaling 16 billion. This covers user passwords for a variety of well-known websites, such as Apple, Facebook, and Google.
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Given that 16 billion is almost twice as many people as there are on Earth today, it is possible that the credentials for several compromised accounts were compromised. According to Cybernews, it is impossible to determine the precise number of individuals or accounts that were compromised because the data undoubtedly contains duplicates.
It’s also crucial to remember that the compromised login credentials are not from a single source, like a single company-targeted breach. Rather, it seems that the information was obtained through a series of events over time, then collated and briefly made public, which is how Cybernews’s researchers found it.
According to Cybernews, the culprit is probably a variety of infostealers. Malicious software known as “infostealers” compromises a victim’s device or systems in order to steal confidential data.
There are still a lot of unanswered issues regarding these compromised credentials, such as whose hands the login information is currently in. However, experts continue to emphasize how important it is to maintain essential cyber hygiene as data breaches become more frequent in today’s society.
The first thing you should do if you’re concerned that your account information might have been compromised in a recent hack is to change your password and refrain from using the same or similar login information across several websites. Think about using a password manager or passkey if you have trouble remembering all of your passwords. Additionally, provide multifactor authentication, which can be used using a USB authenticator key, email, or phone as an additional step of verification.
