http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/technology/russian-gang-said-to-amass-more-than-a-billion-stolen-internet-credentials.html
By NICOLE PERLROTH and DAVID GELLES
The New York Times
AUG. 5, 2014
A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known collection of stolen
Internet credentials, including 1.2 billion user name and password
combinations and more than 500 million email addresses, security
researchers say.
The records, discovered by Hold Security, a firm in Milwaukee, include
confidential material gathered from 420,000 websites, including household
names, and small Internet sites. Hold Security has a history of uncovering
significant hacks, including the theft last year of tens of millions of
records from Adobe Systems.
Hold Security would not name the victims, citing nondisclosure agreements
and a reluctance to name companies whose sites remained vulnerable. At the
request of The New York Times, a security expert not affiliated with Hold
Security analyzed the database of stolen credentials and confirmed it was
authentic. Another computer crime expert who had reviewed the data, but
was not allowed to discuss it publicly, said some big companies were aware
that their records were among the stolen information.
“Hackers did not just target U.S. companies, they targeted any website
they could get, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to very small
websites,” said Alex Holden, the founder and chief information security
officer of Hold Security. “And most of these sites are still vulnerable.”
[...]
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