Biggest Data Breach in History Exposes Over 26 Billion Records
One of the most significant data breaches ever recorded may put billions of global accounts at risk, raising concerns about widespread cybercrime. Termed the "Mother of All Breaches," this extensive leak exposed 26 billion records, encompassing popular platforms such as LinkedIn, Snapchat, Venmo, Adobe, and X (formerly Twitter). Experts label it as the most significant leak in history.
The compromised data goes beyond just login credentials, according to specialists. Much of it is deemed "sensitive," making it attractive to malicious actors. Cybernews, the entity that initially uncovered the breach on an unsecured website, highlights the danger of the dataset. They emphasize that threat actors could exploit the aggregated data for various attacks, including identity theft, advanced phishing schemes, targeted cyberattacks, and unauthorized access to personal and sensitive accounts.
Exposed Data Not All New, Researchers Say
The head of security research at Cybernews told the Daily Mail that "probably the majority of the population have been affected." Despite the alarming scale of the breach, there is a glimmer of hope in the fact that the 12 terabytes of data, appearing to be a meticulous compilation of various breaches (COMB), does not contain anything "newly stolen."
Cybernews identified billions of exposed records on an open instance, meaning it was accessible to anyone. Although the perpetrator is likely to remain unidentified, the team speculates that they could be a data broker, malicious cybercriminal, or an individual with substantial access to data.
Summary of the Biggest Entities in the Breach
The Chinese instant messaging platform Tencent suffered the largest data exposure with 1.4 billion records compromised. Weibo followed with 504 million records, MySpace with 360 million, Twitter with 281 million, Deezer with 258 million, and LinkedIn with 251 million.
Other major platforms affected include Adobe, Telegram, and Dropbox, as well as lesser-known sites like Doordash, Canva, Snapchat, and various government organizations globally, including those in the US. Cybernews has compiled a searchable list online for users to check potentially compromised sites, and they also offer a personal data leak checker for email addresses and phone numbers.
The magnitude of the breach's impact is anticipated to be "unprecedented," according to Cybernews, surpassing the scale of past breaches and making them appear minuscule in comparison. In November, the outlet reported a COMB revealing 3.2 billion records, considered the "largest breach of all time" at the time of its discovery.
