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According to a report published this week, Cybernews researchers
have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a
vast amount of login information — amounting to a total of 16
billion compromised credentials. That includes user passwords
for a range of popular platforms including Google, Facebook and
Apple.
Sixteen billion is roughly double the amount of people on Earth
today, signaling that impacted consumers may have had
credentials for more than one account leaked. Cybernews notes
that there are most certainly duplicates in the data and so
“it's impossible to tell how many people or accounts were
actually exposed.”
It's also important to note that the leaked login information
doesn't span from a single source, such as one breach targeting
a company. Instead, it appears that the data was stolen through
multiple events over time, and then compiled and briefly exposed
publicly, which is when Cybernews reports that its researchers
discovered it.
Various infostealers are most likely the culprit, Cybernews
noted. Infostealers are a form of malicious software that
breaches a victim's device or systems to take sensitive
information.
Many questions remain about these leaked credentials, including
whose hands the login credentials are in now. But, as data
breaches become more and more common in today's world, experts
continue to stress the importance of maintaining key “cyber
hygiene.”
If you're worried about your account data potentially being
exposed in a recent breach, the first thing you can do is change
your password — and avoid using the same or similar login
credentials on multiple sites. If you find it too hard to
memorize all your different passwords, consider a password
manager or passkey. And also add multifactor authentication,
which can serve as a second layer of verification through your
phone, email or USB authenticator key.
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