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[H/T bitt]In what experts are calling the largest data breach ever recorded, researchers have confirmed the exposure of a staggering 16 billion password leaks, affecting platforms including Apple, Facebook, Google, Telegram, GitHub, VPN services, and even government portals. This unprecedented breach is believed to be the result of multiple infostealer malware campaigns operating at a massive scale throughout 2025. If the recently reported 184 million credential leak was alarming, this latest development represents a full-scale cybersecurity disaster that demands immediate action.What Happened? Understanding the 16 Billion Credential LeakAccording to an ongoing investigation by cybersecurity researchers at Cybernews, led by analyst...

I’ll keep this short and sweet so I can get this out faster to you. As headline says, 16,000,000,000 passwords have been leaked. Most likely the biggest password leak in history. It would probably be a good idea to change your passwords. If you have Google, maybe start there and change your Google password, since a lot of people have numerous saved passwords to bank accounts, social media accounts, email, etc, all under Google. Forbes: Update, June 19, 2025: This story, originally published on June 18, has been updated with comments from the founders of Keeper Security regarding the 16...

Hackers just hit a massive jackpot: 184 million accounts across Apple, Google and Microsoft were exposed in a sweeping data breach. I’m talking email addresses, usernames, passwords, device info (the whole buffet), now up for grabs on the dark web. Before you say, “I’m safe, I use strong passwords,” or “I’ve never been hacked,” take a second to think. These weren’t obscure services. This breach hit the biggest names in tech. Household-name-level oopsie. If your login credentials got caught in the cross fire, hackers are already trying to use them to break into your other accounts. The hidden risk It’s...

Security researcher Jeremiah Fowler stumbled upon a large database of login information and passwords containing over 184 million records recently. He mentioned the discovery in an article on Website Planet. The data was not encrypted in any form and stored publicly, which meant that anyone with knowledge of its existence could download the data. The sheer size of the database, more than 47 gigabytes of data, makes it one of the largest leaks in recent history. In early 2024, a 70 million records password dump was discovered. A preliminary sampling of the data unveiled emails, usernames, passwords, and also links...

Private contact details of the most important security advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump can be found on the internet. DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials. To do so, the reporters used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web. Those affected by the leaks include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, with some...

With everything going on in the world, I wanted to reach out to see what other Freepers are doing online to protect yourselves, whether its subscribing to a monitoring service for activity under your name, using VPN (which one & why), password managers, multi-factor authentication etc. What else should a person consider?

Does anyone having any suggestions for a password generator that is either online, or other? I see a few online free sites, but don't know if they are bogus or questionable. I get tired of attempting to create strong passwords, especially when using a website that requires at least 15 various numbers, characters, etc. Thanks

A leaked recording reveals the deputy Secretary of State telling election clerks they didn’t plan to inform them of the online password security breach because it would cause a media frenzy of bad publicity. We’re not sure which is more shocking. That Jena Griswold’s deputy actually admitted it, or that Kyle Clark of 9News has the recording and is reporting it. ... An audio recording reveals Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) and her team didn't tell county clerks that her office had inadvertently leaked voting machine passwords because they feared a media frenzy. ... My favorite part of...

The Colorado Libertarian Party sued Secretary of State Jena Griswold and her chief deputy on Friday in Denver, asking the court to decommission voting equipment and order a hand count of ballots in counties affected by the recently discovered online disclosure of hundreds of election equipment passwords.

In yet another blatant display of political persecution, former Mesa County, Colorado Clerk Tina Peters, 68—a gold star mother—was sentenced to 9 years in prison in early October. In August, Peters was found guilty on seven of ten charges for preserving critical election data. After bravely raising questions about election irregularities, Peters was relentlessly pursued by local and federal authorities, culminating in charges that were politically motivated from the outset. Peters’ crime? Exposing the truth about what happened in the 2020 election. As a last act before entering prison as the result of a political prosecution, Peters publicly released the...

Secretary of State Jena Griswold refuses to take responsibility for any of the numerous mishaps in her office including the posting of critical voter system passwords that remained online for months. However, the civil servant served up by Griswold as the scapegoat she says is responsible for the leak no longer works in that office. No, the buck does not stop with Griswold for the black eye on Colorado’s alleged golden election system. She’s also blaming the Democrat-controlled state legislature for refusing to give her all the taxpayer dollars she demanded for personal security budget increases. That won’t serve her...

Passwords to Colorado voting equipment were inadvertently exposed when they were posted as part of a spreadsheet on the Colorado secretary of state’s website. The leak of the information “does not pose an immediate security threat to Colorado’s elections,” according to a press release from the office of Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, who acknowledged the error Tuesday. Her office described the compromised information as “partial passwords to certain components of Colorado voting systems.” The leak was revealed in a mass email from the Colorado Republican Party, which said it learned of the leak after an unnamed person...

Personal information for some 3,191 congressional staffers has been leaked across the dark web, according to new research from internet security firm Proton being released Tuesday. The firm said the data available in the hidden online hubs includes passwords, IP addresses and information from social media platforms. “Many of these leaks likely occurred because staffers used their official email addresses to sign up for various services, including high-risk sites such as dating and adult websites, which were later compromised in data breaches,” Proton said in a statement. “This situation highlights a critical security lapse, where sensitive work-related emails became entangled...

Over 3,000 congressional staffers’ personal information has been leaked across the dark web in a wide-scale cyberattack on the Capitol. Switzerland based security firm Proton, disovered 1,800 passwords used by staffers at the Capitol are avaible on the dark web. In an investigation, Proton along with the the United States based firm Constella Intelligence, revealed 1 in 5 congressional staffers had personal information exposed on teh dark web. In the report, Proton shared, the leaks made their way to the dark web through several sorces such as adult websites, social media and dating apps. In a statement to The Washington...

Cyber experts have urgently warned people to update their passwords after a hacker uploaded billions of login details. The leak, called RockYou2024, was posted on July 4th containing a staggering 10 billion passwords from a compilation of old and new data breaches. Researchers who revealed the leak said the information could allow hackers to target any system that isn’t protected by strict security software including online and offline services, online cameras and industrial hardware. This could prompt a wave of data breaches, financial fraud and identity theft using the passwords, which were collected from more than 4,000 databases over the...

EXCLUSIVE: The former House Select Committee on Jan. 6 deleted more than 100 encrypted files from its probe just days before Republicans took over the majority in the House of Representatives, Fox News Digital has learned. The House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee is leading an investigation into Jan. 6, 2021, led by Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. The panel is investigating the security failures on that day, as well as the “actions” of the former select committee investigating the Capitol riot. Loudermilk, last week, told Fox News Digital his investigation has entered a “new phase” with renewed support from House Speaker...

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Xfinity is notifying its customers that a hacker data breach got access to the personal information of 36 million customers, nearly all of Xfinity's customers. The data included passwords, user names and security-question answers. An Xfinity notice to customers this week said that the hack was due to a vulnerability in Citrix software that was patched. Subsequently, Xfinity discovered that hackers had nonetheless gained access to customers' personal data. "After additional review of the affected systems and data, Xfinity concluded on December 6, 2023, that the customer information in scope included usernames and hashed passwords; for...

**SNIP** 1. Using out-of-date software Keiran told MailOnline that one of the first things he and other hackers look for when preparing an attack is out-of-date software. 'Out-of-date software is a really big issue because, if the software has been updated, it's probably because there is a security issue', he explained. Software, whether it is the operating system of your iPhone or the control system for a factory, often has some sort of vulnerability. While these can quickly fixed by developers, they are also often shared online through forums and hacker communities. If you haven't updated your software to include...

I know I'm going to open myself up to ridicule, but I'm running out of things to try.A little history,.....I had an account that was used for miscellaneous posts about politics and opinion for years, but decided to posts my home Bible Studies to You Tube without mixing them with the other political and opinion posts. So, I made another account and wrote the login and password in my password book. I stayed logged in for over a year to post 157 video's on Bible study. I have since logged out and logged back into my generic account for a...

It's a timely concern. Cybersecurity experts say the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict could result in an uptick in cyberattacks around the world, with U.S. banks expressing concern this week that they could be targeted.