Apparently social media likes are worth more than millions of dollars nowadays, or that’s what a hacker who had over 272 million passwords in his possession believed. The hacker gave away all the passwords to a cybersecurity company in exchange for praise on a members-only hacking platform.
The majority of the passwords belong to the Russian email provider, Mail.Ru. However deposits of passwords from Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Microsoft Live were also traded. However it should be noted that the cache of passwords does not indicate an actual breach of the email platforms themselves.
“He (the hacker) didn’t value this data.”
Thankfully the (allegedly) Russian hacker sold the data to cybersecurity company Hold Security for plaudits as opposed to an initial request of $11 million. The company is now examining the data to see how many passwords are connected to current email accounts. Yahoo is also examining the passwords to see if any breaches occurred.
Microsoft declined to comment but cited the following about data dumps like these:
“Unfortunately, there are places on the Internet where leaked and stolen credentials are posted, and when we come across these, or someone sends them to us, we act to protect customers. Microsoft has security measures in place to detect account compromise and requires additional information to verify the account owner and help them regain sole access to their account.”
One of the best ways to prevent your credentials from being used to gain unauthorised access to an email is to set up a two-factor authentication system; when a person logs in, you are sent an SMS with a code to confirm the login. While it is a little inconvenient it provides a barrier of safety that’s difficult to breach.
