New 'collection' data dump contains 2.2bn usernames and passwords
Collection #2-5 is almost three times larger than Collection #1
Earlier this month, Have I Been Pwned's Troy Hunt brought attention to the largest ever online data dump containing 12,000 separate files and over 87GB of data containing 773m unique email addresses and 22m unique passwords.
Hunt referred to the wealth of personal data he found on MEGA as Collection #1 and now Collection #2-5 has appeared online containing 2.2bn unique usernames and passwords along with 845GB of data and over 25bn records.
Collection #2-5 contains almost three times as many unique records as Collection #1 and Phosphorous.io's founder Chris Rouland explained to Wired that more than 130 people are making the data available to download online.
So far the data has been downloaded 1,000 times which means that the personal details Collection #2-5 contains will likely remain online indefinitely.
Collection #2-5
While the site Have I Been Pwned was a useful resource in discovering if your credentials had been leaked in Collection#1, the site has not yet been updated with the information from Collection #2-5.
Instead users curious to know if their details have been leaked in the latest collection should check out Hasso Plattner's Info Leak Checker which contains details from 8bn accounts spanning 810 leaks.
Much of the stolen information contained in Collection #2-5 is from previous data breaches that affected Yahoo, LinkedIn and Dropbox.
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However, these details could be utilized by hackers to launch credential stuffing attacks to compromise other accounts that use the same login details.
Via Wired
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After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.