Researchers uncovered a very disturbing news that 2.2 billion usernames and passwords of the internet users has been leaked online and can be accessed.
Although, it includes mostly previously leaked accounts. It is a data dump, and before the news could be out, it has already been downloaded 1,000 times.
As reported, the Collections #1 data leak with over 770 million email IDs and 22 million passwords. While the Collections #2-5 data dump have made its way to the Interweb.
When being exposed to the interwebs, it carried 2.2 billion usernames and passwords combined. Attached to the leaked usernames and passwords, it includes 845GB of stolen data, 25 billion records.
“It’s an unprecedented amount of information and credentials that will eventually get out into the public domain,” Chris Rouland from Phosphorus.io told the website.
It is all coming from previous leaked accounts, and breaches, and they had most of their access via a number of smaller websites to grab their databases.
This is actually coming because the exact source of the new data still remains a mystery. A Hasso Plattner Institute researcher, said they was a significant amount of accounts and passwords that were being leaked for the first time.
How to check if your data was stolen
There is a portal that you can use to check if your data was among the Collection of #2-5 data leak. It is an HPI Identity Leak Checker.
Visit Hasso Plattner Institute’s website HERE, and they within some few seconds, they will automatically check whether your email address, along with other personal data (e.g. telephone number, date of birth or address), has been made public on the Internet where it can be misused for malicious purposes.
After they had run a successful check, then you will be sent a reports from them, notifying you about the status. Please check yours, share this article so that your friends can check theirs too.