Tech Made Simple

Hot Topics: How to Fix Bluetooth Pairing Problems | Complete Guide to Facebook Privacy | How to Block Spam Calls | Snapchat Symbol Meaning

We may earn commissions when you buy from links on our site. Why you can trust us.

author photo

Number of Hacked Email Addresses Now Exceeds Earth's Population

by Josh Kirschner on March 10, 2019

With the addition of 763 million addresses for the latest data breach of Verification.io, an email address validation service, the haveibeenpwned.com database now has information on 7,695,066,389 hacked accounts - that's more than the current world population of 7,558,032,870. Worse, those are just the leaked accounts we know about. There was another major leak of 773 million records discovered in January and there are undoubtedly millions upon millions more accounts in breaches that have not yet been discovered. 

According to the researchers who discovered it, the Verifications.io breach was due to the data being stored in a publically-accessible MongoDB database, without password protection. In addition to email addresses, some records included names, phone numbers, IP addresses, dates of birth and genders. While no passwords were in the leaked data, the information that is available is a dream for phishing attacks. Common email scams, such as the email blackmailing you for watching porn, become much more effective when you include the target's IP address or other personal information that "proves" you know more about them than you really do.

There's little we can do to stop our information from leaking – that's up to the companies involved to better secure their systems, which obviously isn't happening. However, there are things we can do to ensure that when our data is leaked, the impact is limited.

  1. Check to see which of your accounts have been hacked and where to ensure you change any passwords on those sites immediately.
  2. Learn how to tell if an email has been spoofed so you recognize when people are sending you phishing emails to a compromised address.
  3. Use a password manager so you can set up unique, complex passwords for every online account you access (Here are our picks for the best password managers). And yes, it is safe to store all of your passwords in a password manager.
  4. Set up two-factor authentication for any of your accounts which allow it.

Follow our articles on protecting your privacy for more critical privacy and safety tips.

[Image credit: hacking concept via BigStockPhoto]


Topics

News, Computer Safety & Support, Blog, Privacy


Discussion loading

Home | About | Meet the Team | Contact Us
Media Kit | Newsletter Sponsorships | Licensing & Permissions
Accessibility Statement
Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookie Policy

Techlicious participates in affiliate programs, including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, which provide a small commission from some, but not all, of the "click-thru to buy" links contained in our articles. These click-thru links are determined after the article has been written, based on price and product availability — the commissions do not impact our choice of recommended product, nor the price you pay. When you use these links, you help support our ongoing editorial mission to provide you with the best product recommendations.

© Techlicious LLC.