Hacked credentials could give cybercriminals access to Facebook, Meta and Google accounts among others
Internet users have been told to change their passwords and upgrade their digital security after researchers claimed to have revealed the scale of sensitive information – 16bn login records – potentially available to cybercriminals.
Researchers at Cybernews, an online tech publication, said they had found 30 datasets stuffed with credentials harvested from malicious software known as “infostealers” and leaks.
The researchers said the datasets were exposed “only briefly” but amounted to 16bn login records, with an unspecified number of overlapping records – meaning it is difficult to say definitively how many accounts or people have been exposed.
Cybernews said the credentials could open access to services including Facebook, Apple and Google – although there had been no “centralised data breach” at those companies.
