A colossal revelation has unfolded as a staggering 26 billion records of leaked, breached, and sold data inundate the online sphere, putting your personal information at potential risk.
Discovered by cybersecurity researcher Bob Dyachenko of SecurityDiscovery.com and the diligent team at Cybernews.com, this massive data collection, disclosed on Tuesday, comprises user logins and personally identifiable information (PII), totaling a remarkable 12 terabytes (TB) of data. Cybernews aptly dubs it the “mother of all breaches.”
While researchers currently believe that a significant portion of the data originates from known sources, suspicions linger about the inclusion of new, unpublished data and the presence of duplicate records. To provide context, Cybernews’s own data leak checker encompasses 15 billion records.
The implications of such a vast and public data set, particularly one containing sensitive information, are profound. The surge in attempts at identity theft becomes a looming threat, accompanied by potential escalations in credential-stuffing attacks. In these attacks, malicious actors exploit known passwords and associated email addresses, testing them across various online platforms to gain unauthorized access. Individuals who reuse or employ similar passwords face the risk of compromise to crucial and sensitive accounts.
To determine if your data is part of the breach, utilize services like Have I Been Pwned and Cybernews’s lookup tool. However, individuals with weak, reused, or unchanged passwords post-breach are particularly vulnerable.
The recommended course of action involves adopting unique, robust, and random passwords for all accounts, especially critical ones like email, financial, and educational platforms. Enhance security further by incorporating email masks and leveraging password managers, which offer efficient management of login information. In instances of unsolicited requests to verify personal details, exercise caution and independently verify the legitimacy of such communications with the relevant institutions.