According to the business magazine “Forbes”, 16 billion access data has become accessible on the Internet – an unprecedented incident. But users can protect themselves.
As “Forbes” reports, cybersecurity researchers have discovered one of the largest password leak in history. According to this, 16 billion cracked passwords and access data have appeared on the Internet.
Passwords, website addresses and user names published
The compromised databases include access information from social networks, VPN services, developer platforms and user accounts of numerous large providers. Also included: Apple, Google, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Microsoft, Github, but also banks and government portals. The leaked data should be website addresses, user names and passwords.
Several cybersecurity researchers have been working meticulously on the data breakdown since the beginning of the year, which is considered the largest of its kind. The 16 billion stolen access data is mostly fresh data that had not previously been reported as a leak.
Password leaks – this is how you protect yourself against it
One of the simplest yet most important measures is to change your passwords regularly. This applies particularly to essential services such as email, banking or social networks. By frequently updating you make hackers access to your sensitive data. The two-factor authentication offers an additional security level. You should activate this function wherever possible. It increases the security of your accounts, since in addition to the password, another confirmation step is required.
