In the latest cybersecurity scare, a file containing nearly 10 billion passwords was posted to a hacking site.
Researchers at Cybernews said they discovered the file, posted on July 4, with 9.9 billion unique plaintext passwords. Experts said they believe this data dump, RockYou2024, is the largest password leak ever.
The passwords on the document have likely been collected from more than 4,000 databases over the last 20 years, Cybernews said. This should be a "wake-up call" for Internet users, says retired FBI agent Scott E. Augenbaum.
"This has an impact because just think about how many of our parents have the same password for multiple platforms or even our kids," he said. "This will have a greater ripple effect across consumers than anyone could imagine."
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