Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail have been hacked, and over 273.3 million logins belonging to popular email service providers are among those affected. According to security expert Alex Holden of Hold Security, this breach also affects Russian email service provider Mail.ru.
As reported by Reuters, the breached data contains 24 million Gmail accounts, 33 million Hotmail accounts, 40 million Yahoo Mail accounts and 57 million Mail.ru accounts.
GOOGLE AND YAHOO have said they are 'investigating' the breach that hit their respective Gmail and Yahoo Mail services, along with Microsoft's Hotmail. In a statement given to the BBC, a Google spokesperson didn't really have much to say but noted that the firm is looking into it.
"We are still investigating, so we don't have a comment at this time," the spokesperson said.
Also Alex Holden, founder and chief information security officer of Hold security said:
Surprisingly, the hacker was wiling to sell all the stolen data for less than $1. Holden security however said they would rather post favorable comments about him in hacking forums and the hacker turned the data over. Holden said the company’s policy doesn’t allow paying for stolen data.
To stay on the safer side, you may consider changing your password if you have accounts with any of the affected email providers. Better still, enabling 2-step authentication looks like a much better option to avoid unauthorized account access.
This information is potent. It is floating around in the underground and this person has shown he’s willing to give the data away to people who are nice to him. These credentials can be abused multiple times.
Surprisingly, the hacker was wiling to sell all the stolen data for less than $1. Holden security however said they would rather post favorable comments about him in hacking forums and the hacker turned the data over. Holden said the company’s policy doesn’t allow paying for stolen data.
To stay on the safer side, you may consider changing your password if you have accounts with any of the affected email providers. Better still, enabling 2-step authentication looks like a much better option to avoid unauthorized account access.