5 Million ‘Old’ Gmail Accounts Reportedly Leaked to the Masses
Gil C/Shutterstock.com
Hackers posted user credentials on a Bitcoin online forum, but the logins might be inactive.
Hackers have posted a database containing the credentials of millions of Gmail users on a Bitcoin online forum, according to Russian media outlets.
The list was published Tuesday evening.
A member of the message board – the Bitcoin Security online forum – claims more than 60 percent of the accounts corresponding to the logins can be opened successfully.
The 4.93 million accounts allegedly disclosed belong to English, Russian and Spanish users.
Mashable on Wednesday downplayed the security threat.
“The passwords seem to be old, and they don't appear to actually belong to Gmail accounts. Instead, it seems that many of the passwords were taken from websites where users used their Gmail addresses to register, according to some of the leak's victims as well as security experts,” the publication reports.
A Mashable employee noticed his old Gmail password, which he has not used in years, in the dump.
Read the rest at ThreatWatch, Nextgov’s regularly updated index of cyber breaches.
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(Image via Gil C/Shutterstock.com)