Researchers at Cybernews have uncovered a massive data breach involving over 16 billion login credentials from popular online services, ranging from Apple and Google to Telegram and GitHub. Among the potential victims are users of crypto wallets and centralized platforms. The exposed accounts could be used in large-scale cyberattacks.
What Happened
According to Cybernews, the leak includes 30 separate databases, each containing between 16 million and 3.5 billion records. The total volume includes 16 billion logins, passwords, access tokens, cookies, and other sensitive information. Most of these databases had not been previously reported in public leak disclosures.
The primary sources of the breach appear to be vulnerable data storage systems, such as unsecured Elasticsearch instances and exposed object storage services. The perpetrators remain unidentified, but researchers suspect that at least part of the data was collected by cybercriminals themselves.
Why This Affects the Crypto Market
The compromised data includes logins for cloud storage services, accounts with two-factor authentication (2FA), and active sessions that allow access without entering passwords. These could be used for targeted attacks on exchanges, custodial wallets, and platforms where users rely on weak security measures.
Platforms that use email-based authentication and wallets with seed phrases stored in the cloud face the highest risk. If password reuse is detected, attackers may gain access to private keys and critical assets.
What to Expect Next
Analysts warn that mass attempts to hijack accounts are likely to target crypto platforms. If successful, exchanges and services may issue urgent password reset requests and impose temporary restrictions to mitigate further damage.
The incident also highlights ongoing issues with password reuse and lack of 2FA. Cybernews urges users to change their passwords immediately and avoid storing seed phrases in unsecured digital environments.
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