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Added on : 2025-06-20 12:18:51

A massive data breach has exposed over 16 billion passwords online, making it one of the biggest security leaks in internet history. According to reports by Cybernews and Forbes, this leak poses a significant risk to the personal data of millions of users and could lead to widespread phishing scams, identity theft, and account hacking globally.

Security researchers say this isn’t just an old dump of data that’s been floating around for years. Most of the leaked credentials are said to be new, well-organised, and collected through a type of malware known as infostealers. These malware programs silently steal usernames and passwords from people’s devices and send them to hackers, who either use them directly or put them up for sale on dark web forums.

The leaked data includes login information for a wide range of services, from email and social media platforms like Google, Facebook, and Telegram to developer accounts on GitHub and even some government portals. Most of the information is organised in a format that shows the website link, followed by the username and password, making it easier for attackers to use.

Experts are calling this breach a “blueprint for global cybercrime” because of how structured and usable the data is. It is believed that around 30 large data sets, each containing millions to billions of login details, have been collected, taking the total to over 16 billion stolen credentials.

Editor & Publisher : Dr Dhimant Purohit

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