NEW YORK (AP) – Researchers at Cybersecurity outlet CyberNews say billions of login credentials have been leaked and compiled online into datasets, making criminals “unprecedented access” to accounts used by consumers every day.
According to a report released this week, Cybernews researchers recently discovered 30 exposure datasets, each containing a huge amount of login information. This includes user passwords for a variety of popular platforms, including Google, Facebook, Apple, and more.
16 billion is about twice the number of people on Earth today, and what has affected consumers indicates that multiple accounts may be eligible for leaked. CyberNews points out that “it’s impossible to tell the number of people and accounts actually publicly available” because it is most certainly replicated to the data.
It is also important to note that leaked login information is not out of scope from a single source, such as a single violation targeting the company. Instead, the data appeared to have been stolen over time through multiple events, and was later published publicly edited and published when CyberNews reported that researchers had discovered it.
Various infosealers are likely to be the perpetrators, Cyberneva pointed out. Infostealers is a form of malicious software that violates the victim’s device or system in order to obtain sensitive information.
Many questions remain about these leaked credentials. However, as data breaches become increasingly common in today’s world, experts continue to emphasize the importance of maintaining critical “cyber hygiene.”
If you are worried that your account data may be published recently for violations, the first thing you can do is change your password and not use the same or similar login credentials on multiple sites. If it’s too difficult to remember all the various passwords, consider a password manager or PassKey. Additionally, multifactor authentication will be added. This acts as a second verification layer via a mobile phone, email, or USB Authenticator key.
Original issue: June 20th, 2025, 12:46pm EDT
