More than three billion emails and passwords were just leaked online
Normally when a data breach occurs, the cybercriminals responsible may leak the usernames and passwords stolen from one organization or company. However, a new compilation recently posted on an online hacking forum contains more than 3.2bn unique pairs of cleartext emails and passwords gathered from past leaks.
As reported by CyberNews, this new data leak is being referred to as the “Compilation of Many Breaches” (COMB) as it contains more than double the amount of unique email and password pairs than the Breach Compilation from 2017 in which 1.4bn credentials were made available online.
Additionally, just like with 2017’s Breach Compilation, COMB’s leaked database contains a script named count_total.sh. However, this latest leak also includes the scripts query.sh for querying emails and sorter.sh for sorting the data it contains.
- We’ve built a list of the best identity theft protection services
- These are the best VPN services on the market
- Also check out our roundup of the best malware removal software
After running the count_total.sh script, CyberNews found that COMB contains more than 3.27bn email and password pairs. For this reason, the news outlet is currently adding the credentials from the leak to its Personal Data Leak Checker so that users can find out whether their emails or passwords were exposed online.
Source: Tech Radar