In a massive cyber attack last week, emails of over 270 million users worldwide were hacked.
The hacker(s) now have possession of the user IDs and passwords of all those emails. Therefore, we request all our readers to change their email passwords right now!!
Reports suggest that most of the compromised emails belong to the domain mail.ru, which is Russia’s premiere and the most popular email service provider. However, the list also contains “nearly 24 million login credentials for Gmail, 33 million for Microsoft Hotmail, and 40 million for Yahoo Mail accounts [from] around the world.”
Alex Holden, the founder of Hold Security — one of the world’s leading network security firms — was quoted as saying, “[This] is one of the biggest stashes of stolen credentials to be uncovered since cyber attacks hit major U.S. banks and retailers two years ago.”
Mail.ru has started investigating into the matter to find out the extent of damage, while Microsoft says it has “other measures in place to detect compromised accounts.” Google and Yahoo are yet to respond.
The matter came to light when Holden Security “picked up” a young Russian hacker bragging about his exploits on an online forum. The worst part probably was that he was willing to sell all those millions of usernames and passwords for merely 50 Roubles. That’s just 50 Rupees! Your watchman expects more bakhsheesh for Diwali!
The stolen details have flooded the Internet black market, where information is traded just like any other illegal commodity – to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The buyer can then manipulate the data to his advantage in a million different ways, the most obvious one being misusing your bank details.
Think about this: if you’re ever sent your bank details/credit card information through email to anyone, this hacker could use that information to make purchases or even empty your bank accounts!
Digital security has become a major concern at the international level ever since the great Y2K scare. The problem is only going to compound in the foreseeable future. Security systems get upgrades all the time, and yet hackers discover newer ways to violate our privacy.
While there’s nothing we can do to change the nature of the threat, we can definitely take steps that make it harder for these negative forces to terrorise us. We, therefore, urge you to adopt safe online practices like enabling Two-Step verification, setting strong passwords and changing those passwords frequently. We know it’s a hassle, but isn’t it better than the threat of compromised security?
So once again, please upgrade your password as soon as possible and take all possible measures to keep your account protected at all times.