The 16-billion-record data breach that no one’s ever heard of

[_act_]

This data breach hacker is not known but it is known that over 16 billion of people login details are the data that were breached. According to what I read, it is people that make mistake and many of the data were from hacked data from stealer malware and people's ignorance.

If 16 billions of data were breached, that means many people are just careless, they are using phones and computers but they do not know how to avoid hackers. I felt concerned when I read this.

These are new data breaches and not old ones.

Let me just keep it short, you can read about the breach this this link: https://cybernews.com/security/billions-credentials-exposed-infostealers-data-leak/

[Doan9269]

If 16 billions of data were breached, that means many people are just careless, they are using phones and computers but they do not know how to avoid hackers. I felt concerned when I read this.

It is important for us to know what is required to do and not until we are being informed about it before knowing, the more reason for learning deep in crypto and about security measure, also, for us to know why we should value our privacy, if we don't want then to include our own data among the numbers listed, then we should be careful on the kind of platform we use and the way we handle some of these wallet and exchanges as well, because they are taking our information and they are being recorded in a central server prone to hacking or any digital attack.

[btcltcdigger]

Well obviously some1 has heard of it, since you're posting the article here. But regardless, considering there's what 8 billion people alive, and lets be generous and say 50% has internet access.
That would mean there should be at max 4 billion unique records, and here you say there's 4x. Meaning most of the data is useless, fake and alt accounts

[Rikafip]

If 16 billions of data were breached, that means many people are just careless, they are using phones and computers but they do not know how to avoid hackers.

That doesn't mean that there has been 16 billion hacks, but instead that 16 billion login details has been compromised. So for example, if you register on Facebook/Google/Instagram/Telegram/whatever and their servers get breached and data stolen doesn't mean that you got hacked, but them.

For that reason its a good idea to not use the same email address for everything, especially not something that has to do with finances.

[Porfirii]

_act_, you said that the reason is that many people are careless because they don't know how to avoid hackers when they use their phones or computers, but attacks are becoming more and more sophisticated, and many times they are almost unavoidable, even with good knowledge on cybersecurity.

Perhaps the 16 billion login details are not the case, but even governments are under attack, and these advanced "tools" are more and more available for more and more bad actors. I hope that the time doesn't come when, to be totally safe, we have to stop using devices connected to the Internet, but the future doesn't look very promising in that regard.

[Shadiq]

It is impossible for you to be connected to the Internet and not have your information stolen. Even if you are a conscious person, your information is regularly being stolen just because you are connected to the Internet. But the negligence of some users is behind the theft of login information and the modernity of hackers is the main weapon. As you become more modern day by day, hackers are also modernizing their theft techniques. Even a cyber expert unfamiliar with these modern techniques is bound to fall into the trap. So I would suggest that if you want to be protected from such information theft, stay away from the Internet as much as possible and live a real life, especially in financial matters.

[Amphenomenon]

Well obviously some1 has heard of it, since you're posting the article here. But regardless, considering there's what 8 billion people alive, and lets be generous and say 50% has internet access.
That would mean there should be at max 4 billion unique records, and here you say there's 4x. Meaning most of the data is useless, fake and alt accounts

This doesn’t mean most are fake or useless because, these data would be analysed to find links and use it for any possible scam or attack.

This would aid more detail information for cyber theft more likely unfortunately and the risks of these people falling into phishing scam are high.

[Hatchy]

These are new data breaches and not old ones.

The fact is,, most people either don't care enough about their data or they simply don't realize the extent to which their information is vulnerable.It's truly alarming to hear that over 16 billion people's login details have been breached, that's a huge number of population.

It obviously shows clearly that a significant portion of these breaches stem from user error and a lack of awareness often due to  general ignorance about online security...  many people owns smartphones and computers and use them daily without understanding basic precautions, it's a recipe for disaster.  And it gives way for criminals to prive into peoples privacy stealing their data..

[Felicity_Tide]

_act_, you said that the reason is that many people are careless because they don't know how to avoid hackers when they use their phones or computers, but attacks are becoming more and more sophisticated, and many times they are almost unavoidable, even with good knowledge on cybersecurity.

~snip

So, I had to go do a little read up about this Infostealer malware, and it is said that it is used for stealing confidential data, and login details happens to be part of such data. But I'm not sure if this Infostealer is the only malware that is responsible for the 16 billion data breached, or is Infostealer just a general name for malwares used in stealing information?.

Well, I guess the thread already summed up all the discussions that we've had on this forum with our personal security. Just imagine 16 billion breached data, when the world population is around 8 billion people. It's obvious that there are so many internet users with zero clue about their data security. I'm certain that phishing attacks and accidental malware download are two major easy strategies in carrying out this breach. We all just need to be cautious.

[DYING_S0UL]

_act_, you said that the reason is that many people are careless because they don't know how to avoid hackers when they use their phones or computers, but attacks are becoming more and more sophisticated, and many times they are almost unavoidable, even with good knowledge on cybersecurity.

Perhaps the 16 billion login details are not the case, but even governments are under attack, and these advanced "tools" are more and more available for more and more bad actors. I hope that the time doesn't come when, to be totally safe, we have to stop using devices connected to the Internet, but the future doesn't look very promising in that regard.

Not only the governments but the whole nations or high security entities that have heavy infrastructure to prevent these things are struggling to protect themselves from cyber attacks like data leaks. So as a normal user, can you imagine where our position is? We are toast if anyone ever targets us. Most of us are still newbies when it comes to cybersecurity as our knowledge is limited. So I guess it's totally understandable why, even to this day, we still get to see hacks like data leaks, with such big numbers of affected.

[suzanne5223]

[snip]
If 16 billions of data were breached, that means many people are just careless, they are using phones and computers but they do not know how to avoid hackers. I felt concerned when I read this.

I won't say many people are careless based on the data that was exposed, which was said to be far beyond just usernames and passwords (leaked information was said to include full login sessions, URLs, emails, any info cybercriminals needed to phish and carry out large scale hacks).

I believe the model of operation of Apple, Facebook, and Google made a lot of contribution to the leak of this information since the people affected are the 3 platform users because these platforms also monitor their activities and also store some information which the bad actor within their organization can later use.

[DYING_S0UL]

[snip]
If 16 billions of data were breached, that means many people are just careless, they are using phones and computers but they do not know how to avoid hackers. I felt concerned when I read this.

I won't say many people are careless based on the data that was exposed, which was said to be far beyond just usernames and passwords (leaked information was said to include full login sessions, URLs, emails, any info cybercriminals needed to phish and carry out large scale hacks).

What's done is already done. The data is out there in the open. So instead of pointing fingers or blaming others, it's better if we started taking some steps to save ourselves from these attacks. Since nobody knows whom were hit by the data leaks, it would be logical for all of us to start changing our login credentials as soon as possible. I just did with mine. Changed the passwords, re added 2FA keys, removed old sessions and everything. As well as informed my friends, family about the leak. And I just hope and pray, I didn't miss anything.

[Vod]

considering there's what 8 billion people alive, and lets be generous and say 50% has internet access.
That would mean there should be at max 4 billion unique records, and here you say there's 4x. Meaning most of the data is useless, fake and alt accounts

Approximately 67.9% of the world's population had internet access as of February 2025. This translates to about 5.56 billion individuals out of the global population of roughly 8.17 billion.
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/

What's done is already done. The data is out there in the open. So instead of pointing fingers or blaming others, it's better if we started taking some steps to save ourselves from these attacks. Since nobody knows whom were hit by the data leaks, it would be logical for all of us to start changing our login credentials as soon as possible. I just did with mine. Changed the passwords, re added 2FA keys, removed old sessions and everything. As well as informed my friends, family about the leak. And I just hope and pray, I didn't miss anything.

Do you use a password manager?  It can tell you if any passwords were breached, give you only globally unique passwords, and rotate then for you on schedule.  The one I use can even include the 2FA authentication in auto login.   If I'm at home on a 100% secure computer, why do I need 2FA send to my phone?

[DYING_S0UL]

What's done is already done. The data is out there in the open. So instead of pointing fingers or blaming others, it's better if we started taking some steps to save ourselves from these attacks. Since nobody knows whom were hit by the data leaks, it would be logical for all of us to start changing our login credentials as soon as possible. I just did with mine. Changed the passwords, re added 2FA keys, removed old sessions and everything. As well as informed my friends, family about the leak. And I just hope and pray, I didn't miss anything.

Do you use a password manager?  It can tell you if any passwords were breached, give you only globally unique passwords, and rotate then for you on schedule.  The one I use can even include the 2FA authentication in auto login.   If I'm at home on a 100% secure computer, why do I need 2FA send to my phone?

Unfortunately I don't. I have trust issues with password managers, so I never tried any. Donno know about their reliability and security.

Would you mind me asking, which one are you using?