Another bizarre cybercrime has occurred, as per the reports over 3.2 billion different email IDs and passwords in pairs have just been leaked onto an online popular hacking forum. This breach has occurred on a large scale as it has surpassed the Breach Compilation that had occurred in 2017, which consisted of 1.4 billion leaked credentials.
However, the recent breach is known as the “Compilation of Many Breaches” (COMB), this breach has exposed more than double the unique email and password pairs. The hacked data, for now, is archived and placed in an encrypted, password-protected container.
As reported by Cyber News, the hacked database also contains a script named count_total.sh, which was also present in 2017’s Breach Compilation.
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Cyber News has confirmed the breach of 3.27 billion emails and password pairs after running the count_total.sh script. The COMB data set appears to have many similarities to the 2017 breach, as the data is organized in a tree-like structure and that the same scripts are used for querying emails and passwords.
There is a colossal number of users, who tend to reuse their passwords for their login credentials across multiple platforms and online accounts, this may result in influencing the consumers and businesses as a consequence of COMB. The leaked data can be used to launch credential stuffing and initiate other cybercrimes.
Another emerging problem is, this data can be utilized by cybercriminals to access the credentials of a user’s social media accounts and can also access the other more significant accounts, such as their email or even their cloud storage.
We recommend taking extra precautions with your credentials and if you feel even a slight indication of your account being tampered then take action immediately. Cyber News also suggests that the users apply multi-factor authentication to their credentials and use a password manager for the strict protection of their accounts.
Image Source: CSO Online
