- Researchers found a new non-password-protected database
- The database contained hundreds of millions of records
- Among the records were login credentials for Facebook, Apple, and more
Login credentials for Microsoft, Facebook, Snapchat, and many other services, were recently found in a public, non-password-protected database, available for anyone who knew where to look.
The database was discovered by Jeremiah Fowler, a security researcher known for hunting large, open databases.
According to Fowler, the database contained more than 184 million unique logins and passwords: emails, usernames, passwords, and URL login links, for a wide range of services applications and accounts. That includes email providers, Microsoft products, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Roblox, and many more.
Fowler also said he saw credentials for bank and financial accounts, health platforms, and government portals from “numerous countries”. He managed to confirm the authenticity of at least some of the data in the database, by reaching out to email addresses found inside.
Attribution was tricky, though. Fowler says the IP address indicated that the database was connected to two domain names – one parked and unavailable, and the other unregistered and available for purchase.
The Whois registration was set to private, making it impossible to identify the true owner of the database.
Attribution troubles
But the researcher managed to reach out to the hosting provider, and soon after – public access was restricted. The provider, however, did not disclose the information about the owner.
With that in mind, Fowler says it’s difficult to determine if the database was generated by a malicious actor, or a legitimate one. Still, he leans towards the former, claiming to have seen “multiple signs” the data was harvested with infostealers.
Infostealers are usually distributed via phishing, malicious websites, or tainted updates. They can harvest sensitive information from the compromised device, including passwords stored in browsers, important PDF files, cryptocurrency wallet information, and more.
Once crooks get access to email accounts, they can use them to launch convincing phishing attacks, or steal even more data.
In fact, Fowler argues that many people “treat their email accounts like free storage” and keep years’ worth of sensitive documents inside.
Via Website Planet
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