Hackers published on the Internet more than three billion usernames and passwords of users of the mail services Gmail and Hotmail, obtained as a result of collecting data from a variety of leaks. According to the BGR resource, this data appeared in the public domain.
According to experts, the database, which is informally called the “Compilation of Many Breaches”, contains about 3.2 billion email addresses with passwords for login. It is noted that the data did not appear as a result of a new hack, but was collected on the basis of previous ones, including due to data leaks from users of Netflix and LinkedIn services.
The users of these services were encouraged to independently check the database for their data. Inbox owners are warned that hackers can not only hijack mail, but also phish through services linked to their account in order to collect data from other users and sell it on the black market.
Users were encouraged to enable two-factor authentication for email accounts, promptly change the password and regularly change it in the future, as well as use a password manager to protect other accounts in other online services.
In December 2020, it was reported that the personal data of about 243 million Brazilians were freely available. This happened due to the fact that the password to the database was in the source code of the resource of the country's Ministry of Health.
