Hackers steal 1.2 billion login details and 500 million email addresses
Russian hackers have stolen about 1.2 billion combinations of usernames and passwords, according to a security company. It is probably the largest theft of credentials to date. 500 million email addresses were also stolen.
The New York Times reports this on the basis of a find by the security company Hold Security. According to the company, a group of Russian hackers stole a total of about 1.2 billion usernames and passwords from about 420,000 websites. The digital robbery also involved 500 million email addresses. The New York Times states that an independent security expert they consulted considers Hold Security’s find to be authentic.
Hold Security has not released any names of companies that have fallen victim to the hackers. However, it would concern both large and small companies, both inside and outside the United States. A Hold Security chief says most of the affected websites are still susceptible to hacks, preventing names from being released.
For the time being, those responsible would mainly use the data to send spam and the stolen data has probably not yet been sold. However, the exact plans of the responsible hacker group are not clear. The theft of 1.2 billion credentials is believed to be the largest digital heist discovered to date. The United Kingdom’s cybercrime unit recently called Russian hackers the greatest threat to cybersecurity in Europe.
Hold Security discovered a major hack on Adobe’s servers last year, in which the data of 38 million users was stolen. Earlier this year, Hold Security also discovered a major hack in which as many as 360 million personal data were stolen.