There are personal data leaks, and there are personal data torrents. The latest database discovered on the web is part of this second category.
26 billion pieces of diverse information, ranging from email addresses to Uber Eats passwords, have just been compiled into what some cybersecurity researchers call “the biggest data leak ever seen to date“. The Cybernews site explains that it got its hands on a gigantic database coming from an unidentified corner of the web.
12 terabytes of data
If the sheer size of this leak can make you dizzy, Cybernews notes that “this “mother of all leaks” does not appear to consist of newly stolen data, but rather is an exhaustive collection of multiple other acts of hacking“. This immense glob of personal data would contain information from numerous sites such as Deezer, LinkedIn, Adobe, Canva or Dropbox. Information stolen from Brazilian, American and German government agencies is also present according to Cybernews.
This kind of large piracy directory (nicknamed COMB in English for “compilation of multiple breaches“) is more proof of the scale of personal data piracy on the web than a real threat. No new data seems to be entered in this database, it is mainly a matter of breaking a record. And on this point, we can say that it is successful.
In fact, this file would contain no less than 12 terabytes of personal data. The old “mother of all leaks» discovered in 2021 contained just 3.2 billion entries. Much of the data in this new file (1.4 billion entries) comes from Tencent due to an old hack of QQ, an instant messaging application. Next comes Weibo and its 504 million entries, then MySpace and its 360 million data points.
It’s never too late to protect yourself well
Even though no new personal information appears to have made its way into this file, such an amount of data could tempt some malicious actors to carry out large-scale attacks. Rather than cross-referencing hundreds of files to try to obtain the complete digital trace of a person, a malicious hacker could simply shop within this immense file. Enough to make the task of cybercriminals easier.
The list of all the sites concerned can be consulted on Cybernews for those who would like to be scared. In the meantime, it is never too late to remember good practices in terms of digital hygiene.
We spend nearly 2.5 hours a day surfing the web in France. A not so trivial activity: we share, without realizing it, a lot of information about our private life. To mark Data Privacy Week, here is a selection of services that will help you better protect your data.
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Source : Cybernews via wccftech
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