A staggering 16 billion login credentials have been exposed in what cybersecurity experts are calling one of the largest data breaches in history. According to a report by Cybernews from June 18, the leaked data, believed to have originated from various infostealing malware, has been compiled from 30 separate databases and includes access to major platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Apple.
While some records may overlap, researchers confirm much of the data is recent and not simply recycled from older breaches.
The scale of the breach has raised serious concerns about potential misuse. With billions of usernames and passwords now in circulation, cybercriminals could launch widespread account takeovers, identity theft, and targeted phishing campaigns.
It’s easy to place too much faith in an entity or a company’s cyber security when you hand over your information to log in, but hacking can apparently be even easier than we thought. Based on a list from CSO Online, who composed a ranking not on the number of records compromised but on how much damage the breach caused for companies and users, check out this gallery to see the surprising big-name companies you never knew were hacked.