26 billion users' personal records exposed in the biggest leak on the Internet

According to reports from security consulting companies Security Discovery and Cyber ​​News, a data warehouse of up to 12 terabytes containing 26 billion personal records of Weibo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Zing. users was leaked. It is the largest data breach in recorded history, known as MOAB, and has raised fears of a crime wave.

According to estimates by CyberSmart cybersecurity consultant Adam Pilton, 12 terabytes is equivalent to 15,600 filing cabinets.

The research team said that the data warehouse could be compiled by some hackers or data brokers. Bad guys can use this data warehouse for a new wave of attacks.

26 billion users' personal records exposed in the biggest leak on the Internet Picture 1

The identity of the party collecting the database is currently unknown. According to analysts, these data are mainly gathered from other leaks and may be duplicates but contain authentication information such as usernames, emails, passwords and other sensitive data of users. use.

According to Mashable, up to 1.5 billion out of 2.6 billion personal records belong to Tencent platforms, so this is the company most affected in this case. Next is the social network Weibo with 504 million profiles, Myspace 360 ​​million, X 281 million, LinkedIn 251, Zing 164 million profiles. In addition, Dropbox, Telegram. and information related to non-governmental organizations from the US, Brazil, Germany, Turkey, and the Philippines are also included in the 12 terabytes of data.

26 billion users' personal records exposed in the biggest leak on the Internet Picture 2

What do users need to do?

To see if your data is in the file, users can use the free tool Have I Been Pwned or look up information on Cyber ​​News.

Another necessary thing that users should do, whether they are victims of this data leak or not, is to change their password, turn on two-factor authentication, and be wary of phishing emails.

Lesley Montoya

Update 25 January 2024