A Milwaukee-based cyber security research firm recently revealed what most people perceived as the greatest internet password theft to date: a staggering 1.2 Billion database of information stolen by a group of Russian hackers.
Hold Security, the cyber security research firm specializing on data breaches, said in a statement that anyone whose data has been placed online "may be affected by this breach."
Cyber gang like this specific ring of Russian hackers often obtained databases of personal information from fellow hackers. Malwares are subsequently installed to penetrate various websites, emails, and social media accounts.
In a statement, the Hold Security revealed that Russian "CyberVors" harvested confidential user names and passwords from various websites.
"These stolen credentials eventually added up to the largest cache of stolen personal information in the history of internet," one analyst of the Hold Security said.
The security firm estimated the total bulk of credentials to over 1.2 billion sets of e-mails and passwords.
E.J. Hilbert, a former FBI cybercrime agent who is currently managing a computer security firm, meanwhile cautioned Internet users about of taking passwords for granted.
Using similar passwords for different sites and accounts, he said, makes it easier for hackers to breach into users' credentials. Hackers go about this by "connecting all of those stolen credentials with emails and online banking accounts," Hilbert said in a report by the Huffington Post.
Password preference essentially makes anyone a would-be culprit to online theft involving database credentials. Hilbert pointed any online user is "making the hackers' job a lot easier because that one password is not just the key to one website. It's the key to everything."
In a nutshell, breaches are executed by using stolen password to login and gain access to email, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. Once hackers successfully gained access, the next step is simply to "see of it works on bank account as well," Hilbert added.
