Google, Facebook and Apple among platforms with exposed accounts
A chilling finding was revealed by the recent investigation by the cybersecurity team of cybernews: over 16 billion passwords are currently exposed online, in 30 different “data packages” collected from a series of breaches over the years.
Well-known platforms in the spotlight
According to the researchers, the leaks concern well-known platforms such as Google, Facebook and Apple , among others. This is not a single incident — but accumulated violations from different time periods, which resulted in a digital data "bomb" that is now openly located online.
“We can’t say how many were actually exposed”
If one considers that the world population is approaching 8 billion, then it is clear that the leaks concern multiple accounts per personMany of the credentials are duplicated or belong to different platforms for the same person — hence the true extent of the leak. remains unclear.
Who's to blame? The problem isn't one company – it's everywhere
The data being released does not come from a specific attack or organization. Instead, it is a multiple “small” leaks which took place from time to time, mainly through malware like infostealersThese digital thieves infiltrate devices and steal credentials — and then simply “upload” or sell them.
“Cyber-cleaning”: What can we do?
The Cybernews team emphasizes that although we cannot know where these codes have ended up, there are basic digital security practices that can limit the damage. The most basic?
- Change your password immediately., if you've been using it for a long time or have it on multiple platforms.
- Do not reuse. the same passwords.
- Use a password manager or creating unique, strong passwords.
- Turn it on multi-factor authentication (2FA), so that if someone has your password, they cannot gain access without second confirmation.
Digital security is no longer a matter of “know-how” – it is daily responsibilityAnd if you haven't taken these steps yet, now is probably the right time.
