Nearly 10bn passwords found online in largest ever leak

Leak could involve data from more than 4,000 databases

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A document called ‘RockYou2024’ has appeared online with as many as 10 million passwords – potentially the largest password leak ever. Experts have advised users who recycle passwords on multiple accounts to change them immediately.

The document was discovered by website Cybernews on 4 July.

Research shows that not all of the leaked passwords are new. So it is a combination of data from previous leaks along with newly collected passwords. The data would have come from users around the world and obtained from various websites. In total, it would involve data from more than 4,000 databases.

Although the passwords in such documents often come from accounts that have not been used over a long period it still holds plenty danger. After all, many people use the same password and username for different websites or don’t change them once set up. With different tools, this allows hackers to get the leaked documents users on different sites with sensitive and dangerous information. Something similar happened recently to accounts of Ticketmaster and Banco Santander.

Its recommended that passwords be regularly changed and that individuals use a password manager, to keep an overview of all your different passwords or accounts without having to use the same ones again.

It is also recommended – if possible – to activate multi-factor authentication (MFA) or two-factor authentication (2FA), ensuring a password alone is not enough to access a compromisd account.

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