Technology

Passwords Of 184 Million People Leaked On The Internet: Banks, Social Media And Government Portals Affected, Thus Avoiding Fraud

User names and passwords of more than 18.4 crore people have been leaked on the internet. Cyber security researcher Jeremiah Fowler has given this information in a report.

Fowler said that a database was found on the Internet without any security, which contained usernames and passwords of crores of people. These passwords were linked to emails, social media platforms and bank accounts.

Login details of government portals are also included in the leaked data
Most of the leaked data was related to major platforms like Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Instagram, Snapchat. Apart from this, login details of authorization URL, banking, health and government portals were also included in it.

The worrying thing is that this database was not encrypted, that is, all the sensitive information was available in simple text format. Due to data leak, personal information of crores of users is in danger. Many companies are on alert after the report.

How the passwords of people were leaked

According to Fowler, this data may have been stolen from a malware named ‘InfoSteeler’, which extracts the data saved in the computer. Info-Steeler Malware steals saved passwords, autofill information, and cookies in users’ browsers.

If a user accidentally clicks on a fake link or downloads a file by mail, this virus enters the system. After that it leaks information related to email, bank and social media accounts.

Cyber criminals often use malware that steals information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers from websites and systems and sells them on the dark web.

The hosting company refused to give information

According to Fowler, the hosting company that had this data on its servers was contacted. After that that database could not be publicly accessed. But, the company refused to provide information about the source that uploaded the data.

Security experts sent emails to some users in the database and confirmed that their actual information had been leaked. He also warned that people using the same password and username on multiple platforms are at greatest risk.

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