Gmail, Yahoo, Microsoft - Accounts Comprimised

[Administrator]

The latest news on the hacking front is that a Russian hackers has obtained 272Million accounts from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo accounts. The truth to the matter is not if you or one of your accounts will get compromised, but when. The best prevention however is two factor authentication, this is an added secondary authentication method to protect your accounts, even if someone does obtain your password, it's pretty much useless if you have two factor auth enabled. It's worth noting that each of these services offer two factor authentication, so use it!   

If you have any of the above accounts, please login to them now and update your password.

 

If you follow three steps on all of your accounts, you will be much safer.

1. Use two factor Auth on every account that offers it.
2. Use a unique password on every account, never use the same password twice. (EVER!) 
3. Use a password manager if needed to keep track of many accounts if needed, such as 1password or Lastpass.

 

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FRANKFURT: 

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Over 272 million usernames & passwords stolen in major security breach
2. They include details of Gmail, Microsoft and Yahoo email users
3. Russian hacker has asked for less than $1 for all the stolen credentials

 

 Hundreds of millions of hacked usernames and passwords for email accounts and other websites are being traded in Russia's criminal underworld, a security expert told Reuters.

The discovery of 272.3 million stolen accounts included a majority of users of Mail.ru, Russia's most popular email service, and smaller fractions of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft email users, said Alex Holden, founder and chief information security officer of Hold Security.

It is one of the biggest stashes of stolen credentials to be uncovered since cyber attacks hit major US banks and retailers two years ago.

 

 

 

Holden was previously instrumental in uncovering some of the world's biggest known data breaches, affecting tens of millions of users at Adobe Systems, JPMorgan and Target and exposing them to subsequent cyber crimes.

The latest discovery came after Hold Security researchers found a young Russian hacker bragging in an online forum that he had collected and was ready to give away a far larger number of stolen credentials that ended up totalling 1.17 billion records.

After eliminating duplicates, Holden said, the cache contained nearly 57 million Mail.ru accounts - a big chunk of the 64 million monthly active email users Mail.ru said it had at the end of last year. It also included tens of millions of credentials for the world's three big email providers, Gmail, Microsoft and Yahoo, plus hundreds of thousands of accounts at German and Chinese email providers.

"This information is potent. It is floating around in the underground and this person has shown he's willing to give the data away to people who are nice to him," said Holden, the former chief security officer at US brokerage RW Baird. "These credentials can be abused multiple times," he said.

Source