MESSAGE
| DATE | 2025-06-22 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] You Passwords were stolen - So CHANGE THEM ALL
|
https://www.zdnet.com/article/16-billion-passwords-leaked-across-apple-google-more-what-to-know-and-how-to-protect-yourself/
16 billion passwords leaked across Apple, Google, more: What to know
and how to protect yourself
Wondering if your information is posted online from a data breach?
Here's how to check if your accounts are at risk and what to do next.
charlie-osborne
lance-31.png
Written by Charlie Osborne, Contributing Writer and Lance Whitney,
Contributor
June 22, 2025 at 1:30 a.m. PT
gettyimages-2154379866
Moor Studio/Getty
With so much news about data breaches, you have to be careful not to
panic each time you hear of a new one. Take the latest report of a major
breach.
In the headline for a recent story published by Cybernews, the
cybersecurity media outlet said that 16 billion passwords were exposed
in a record-breaking data breach, opening access to Facebook, Google,
Apple, and any other service imaginable. Sounds scary, right? But
reading the story itself paints a different picture.
Also: 184 million passwords for Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and more
leaked in massive data breach
Despite what the headline says, the reported 16 billion passwords didn't
come from a single massive data breach. Rather, this is based on 30
different datasets that Cybernews said it's been monitoring since the
beginning of 2025.
"Our team has been closely monitoring the web since the beginning of the
year," Cybernews said. "So far, they've discovered 30 exposed datasets
containing from tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each. In
total, the researchers uncovered an unimaginable 16 billion records."
Further down in the story, Cybernews reveals that the datasets were
briefly exposed, only enough for researchers to find them, but not long
enough to find the source of the data. Plus, the data itself isn't
necessarily new. Cybernews pointed to the datasets as a mixture of
information from infostealer malware, credential stuffing sets, and
repackaged leaks.
As the leaks come from multiple datasets, there are likely many
duplicate records in the mix, which means that the 16 billion number is
probably inflated.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2025/05/06/new-warning---19-billion-compromised-passwords-create-hacking-arsenal/
Update, May 6, 2025: This story, originally published May 3, has been
updated with details of the SMS phishing threat posed by the Chinese
Panda Shop cybercrime group, and an open letter to the cybersecurity
industry asking why the phishing threat behind the stolen passwords
epidemic has yet to be fixed.
In just the last few months, I have reported on confirmed lists of
stolen passwords being made available on the dark web and in criminal
forums that have risen from 800 million to 1.7 billion and even as high
as 2.1 billion, mainly thanks to the rise and rise of infostealer
malware attacks. But a new report has just blown even those shockingly
large statistics out of the water with an analysis of 19 billion such
passwords that are available online right now to any hackers who want to
seek them out. The takeaway being that you need to take action now to
prevent becoming a victim of the automatic password hacking machine
epidemic.
Forbes884,000 Credit Cards Stolen With 13 Million Clicks By A Magic Cat
By Davey Winder
The 19 Billion Exposed Passwords Hacking Problem
Imagine having access to 19,030,305,929 passwords that were compromised
by leaks and breaches over the course of 12 months from April 2024 and
involving 200 security incidents. Imagine that only sources where email
addresses were available for consumption alongside the stolen password
were included in this massive database. Oh, and forget about including
any of those word-list compilations, such as RockYou, that regularly do
the rounds but are about as useful to a criminal hacker as a chocolate
router. Finally, get to grips with the fact that this dataset only
includes passwords that have become publicly available in criminal
forums online. Once you digest all of this, you can appreciate how huge,
in all senses of the word, this really is, especially to any hacker with
criminal intent.
The analysis, published May 2 by the Cybernews research team, makes for
truly eye-opening reading. It’s so wide-ranging and security-scary in
equal measure that it’s hard to know where to start, so the beginning
seems as good a place as any: password laziness and reuse. Of the
19,030,305,929 passwords that ended up exposed online, only 6% of them,
or 1,143,815,266 if you like to be precise, were unique. Switch that
around to 94% of them being reused across accounts and services, whether
by the same or different people is moot, and you can see why the average
cybercriminal gets very excited about the hacking potential such lists
provide.
Now throw in that 42% of the passwords were short, way too short, being
only 8-10 characters in length. That now opens up the hacking potential
to brute force attacks as well as credential stuffing. Ah, yes, and it
just keeps getting worse; 27% consisted of only lowercase letters and
digits, no special characters or mixed case. Sigh.
https://nypost.com/2025/06/20/tech/16-billion-google-apple-other-passwords-leaked-what-to-know/
Fresh off last month’s massive password hack, there’s been another major
dataset exposure. A staggering 16 billion passwords have been leaked
across multiple platforms in what techsperts are calling the largest
data breach in history.
Cybernews researcher Vilius Petkauskas, whose team has been
investigating the online theft since the beginning of the year, told
Forbes that the breach comprised “30 exposed datasets containing from
tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each.”
The compromised info potentially affected millions of users and included
logins to social media, VPNs and user accounts for tech giants including
Apple, Facebook and Google.
Locks and passwords ona screen. 4
“This is not just a leak – it’s a blueprint for mass exploitation,”
researchers declared. Sergey Nivens – stock.adobe.com
Researchers claim that the ill-gotten intel — which generally featured a
URL, followed by login credentials and a password — could potentially
grant cybercriminals access to “pretty much any online service imaginable.”
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/16-billion-passwords-exposed-in-unprecedented-cyber-leak-of-2025-experts-raise-global-alarm/articleshow/121961165.cms
16 billion passwords exposed in unprecedented cyber leak of 2025,
experts raise global alarm
Synopsis
A massive breach has exposed over 16 billion login credentials, creating
unprecedented risks of phishing, identity theft, and account takeovers.
The stolen data, gathered by infostealer malware, includes URLs, logins,
and passwords for various online services. Experts advise immediate
password changes, multi-factor authentication, and the use of password
managers to mitigate potential damage.
16 billion passwords exposed in unprecedented cyber leak of 2025,
experts raise global alarm
A shocking new report has confirmed that one of the biggest password
leaks in internet history has happened.
Cybernews and Forbes found a historic breach that stole more than 16
billion login credentials, making it the biggest leak ever reported.
This massive date breach puts global digital security at an insane risk
right now.
Cybersecurity researchers found more than 16 billion stolen login
credentials that were just put up for sale online Experts say that if
this trove is not dealt with, it could lead to phishing attacks,
identity theft, and account takeovers all over the world, as per a report.
Since it creates the framework for widespread identity theft, account
takeovers, and targeted phishing attacks, the breach is more than just a
leak, it is a blueprint for mass exploitation, as per a report by WION.
The data was extracted by infostealer malware and is new and highly
structured, not remnants of old breaches.
According to a Forbes report, researchers involved in an investigation
that began early this year believe that several infostealers were
responsible for the massive password leak.
In this technologically advanced world, if a password is compromised, it
compromises nearly everything.
Google is advising billions of users to change their passwords to much
more secure passkeys because of this.
The FBI is cautioning people against clicking on links in SMS messages
because of this. This is the reason why anyone with even a small sum of
money can purchase stolen passwords on the dark web, as per a report by
Merca20.
How did this password leak happen?
30 exposed datasets with tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records
each have been found, bringing the total number of compromised records
to 16 billion, according to Vilius Petkauskas at Cybernews.
These credentials are a prime target for phishing and account takeover
attempts, and they represent new, weaponizable intelligence at scale
rather than merely recycled breaches.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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