149 million passwords exposed in massive credential leak

149 million passwords exposed in massive credential leak

It has been a rough start to the year for password security. A massive database containing 149 million stolen logins and passwords was found publicly exposed online. The data included credentials tied to an estimated 48 million Gmail accounts, along with millions more from popular services. Cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler, who discovered the database, confirmed it was not password-protected or encrypted. Anyone who found it could have a…

Gmail and Facebook passwords among 149 million logins leaked

A jaw-dropping trove of 149 million login credentials — including millions of Gmail and Facebook passwords — was recently found sitting in a publicly accessible database, but this isn’t another blockbuster hack of Google or Meta’s fortress-like systems. Instead, it was the result of malware quietly harvesting credentials from infected devices over time, compiling them into a massive cache that anyone with a browser could access. Wondering how th…