It’s probably a good idea to update your password.
272.3 million accounts have had their privacy details hacked with usernames and passwords for email accounts on the Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail servers being compromised, according to a report by Reuters.
Right now, private email account information is being circulated by Russia’s criminal underworld, says Alex Holden, founder and chief information security officer of Hold Security.
Holden has a history of uncovering cyber attacks and data breaches – he was previously instrumental in uncovering attacks on the users at Adobe Systems, JPMorgan and Target.
The latest attack was uncovered after a Russian hacker was found to be bragging on an online forum, stating that he had stolen credentials from 1.17 billion records.
The company that suffered the biggest security breach was Russia’s most popular email service, Mail.ru, but millions of accounts from Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail were also compromised.
Some 40 million Yahoo Mail accounts were breached, while 33 million Microsoft Hotmail and 24 million Gmail accounts were targeted.
