The frequency of data leaks on the internet is increasing and is a cause of worry for everyone now. Hackers around the world are spilling and selling data in record numbers. An Australian cybersecurity expert recently reported a massive breach of over 700 million email IDs.
After Troy Hunt, the Australian researcher, identified the first set of mega dumps (named Collection #1), another cybersecurity researcher has found Collections no. #2 to #5. These collections amount to 845 GB of stolen data and 25 billion records in total. If that was not all, another hacker has assembled all these leaks together and created a massive collection of 2.2 billion login credentials. This is clearly the biggest collection of data breaches ever reported.
Chris Rouland, the founder of IoT security firm Phosphorus.io reported the Collections #1-5. The dump was found on torrent sites. Rouland said that the torrent tracker file that he found out is seeded by 130 people and already downloaded more than 1,000 times.
Who is the data thief?
It is still a surprise how the data of this magnitude got out on the torrent sites. A post on hacker forum suggests that a user named "Azatej" is responsible for the data leak. On a hacker forum, this user writes, "I leaked whole of it because the seller shared my infinity black combos in that storage."
The combos are a combination of usernames and passwords. Azatej shared the data on Infinity Black, which is a site for sharing stolen data. Azatej further mentions that the stolen data was being resold by Sanix. This is probably how the data reached hundreds of hackers and hacking platforms.
Should you be concerned?
The megaleak may not be as concerning as it appears to be. Most of the information that is included in these collections originate from old data breaches. There is no indication of the data being from new attacks.
It could still be a major threat if phishing scammers get their hands on it. Blackmailers can use the data to scam internet users. There is a growth in the number of money extortion attempts by blackmailing users across the globe. Anyone who has not changed the password after the data leak should preferably do so.