24 billion stolen credentials exposed in online leak

A massive repository containing approximately 24 billion records of stolen login credentials was discovered exposed online earlier this month, cybersecurity researchers have confirmed. The database, which included usernames, email addresses, plaintext passwords, and the website URLs they unlock, was publicly accessible before being taken offline.

The discovery was made by researchers at Cybernews, who reported finding the unprotected Elasticsearch cluster containing over 8.3 terabytes of data. Analysis indicates the trove was not the result of a single corporate breach but a compilation of data from at least 36 different sources. These sources included over 1.7 billion records harvested from cybercrime-focused Telegram channels, prior breach compilations, and a massive section labeled "collections" accounting for roughly 22.6 billion records. A portion of the data, about 260 million records, was linked to Telegram channels referencing the Darkside ransomware group.

Researchers said the majority of the data consisted of "infostealer logs," records generated by malware that secretly extracts saved passwords, browser data, and other sensitive information directly from infected...