Massive Data Breach Exposes 16 Billion Account Credentials
Researchers have confirmed the largest data breach in history, which has exposed 16 billion account credentials, including passwords for Apple, Google, Facebook, and other services.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Forbes.
Viljus Petkauskas from Cybernews, whose team has been investigating the breach since the beginning of the year, stated that «30 new datasets containing from tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each have been discovered». In total, the number of compromised records has reached 16 billion, he added.
Researchers suspect that the massive leak of passwords is the work of a few information thieves.
The breach, which encompasses 16 billion records, includes billions of login credentials for social media, VPN services, developer portals, and user accounts from all major providers. According to researchers, this data had not appeared in previous leaks; it is entirely new information. Only one database, containing 184 million passwords, was known before.
«This is not just a leak; it is a plan for mass exploitation. This is not merely a rehash of old leaks, but fresh, usable intelligence for military purposes on a grand scale», researchers said.
The article details that these credentials represent a «zero point» for fitting attacks and account takeovers.
Most of this intelligence was structured in URL format, followed by login data and passwords. Researchers stated that the information contained opens doors to «virtually any online service», from Apple, Facebook, and Google to GitHub, Telegram, and various government services.
«The fact that the credentials in question are highly valuable for widely used services has far-reaching consequences», said Darren Guccione, CEO and co-founder of Keeper Security.
He added that this is why it is crucial for consumers to invest in password management solutions and dark web monitoring tools.
As reported by Ukrinform, American companies Microsoft and OpenAI are investigating possible unauthorized access to technology data from ChatGPT's developer by a group connected to a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, DeepSeek.
