Breach of nearly 2.7 billion records underlines password flaws
Potentially the biggest personal data breach to date from thousands of sources, some possibly breached as far back as 2008, illustrates the deeply flawed nature of password-based authentication, say industry commentators
A leak of 87GB of 772.9 million emails, 21.2 million passwords and 1.1 billion unique combinations of email addresses and passwords, has been revealed by security researcher Troy Hunt, who also manages the Have I Been Pwned service, which enables users to check if their personal data has been compromised.
The data leak, dubbed Collection #1, comprises 2.6 billion rows of data from 12,000 files and is being shared on hacking forums, Hunt revealed in a blog post.
The data presents a huge threat because cyber criminals can use the email and password combinations to test them across all online accounts using a technique called credential stuffing. This is enabled by the common practice of using the same email and password combination for multiple online and business application accounts.
“People take lists like these that contain our email addresses and passwords, then they attempt to see where else they work,” said Hunt. “The success of this approach is predicated on the fact that people reuse the same credentials on multiple services.”
He said this is a “serious problem” for anyone affected by the breach who has used the same password for multiple accounts.
Sergey Lozhkin, security expert at security firm Kaspersky Lab, warned that this collection can be easily be turned into a single list of emails and passwords. “Then all that attackers need to do is to write a relatively simple software program to check if the passwords are working,” he said.
“The consequences of account access can range from very productive phishing, as criminals can automatically send malicious emails to a victim’s list of contacts, to targeted attacks designed to steal victims’ entire digital identity or money or to compromise their social media network data.”
Hunt encouraged anyone affected by the breach to sign up to a password manager if they are not already using one.
“A password manager provides you with a secure vault for all your secrets to be stored in,” he said, adding that a password manager is also “a rare exception to the rule that adding security means making your life harder – for example, logging on to a mobile app is dead easy”.
Anyone affected by the breach is also advised to change all exposed passwords and ensure that each online account has a unique password.
Of the 2.2 million people who use the Have I Been Pwned service, 768,000 are affected by this breach, said Hunt.
Robin Tombs, CEO and co-founder of London-based technology firm Yoti, said the breach shows just how flawed passwords are for protecting online accounts.
“Millions of people will now have the worry and stress of whether their details are part of this data collection,” he said.
With the average person having 191 passwords, Tombs said convenience often trumps security and many people reuse the same password across different websites.
“While using the same easy-to-remember password makes life easier for individuals managing an ever-growing number of online accounts, it makes it equally simple for hackers to strike,” he said.
Like Hunt, Tombs said password managers store login details securely and eliminate the need to remember passwords. “Crucially, they can be secured with your unique biometrics rather than a master password – meaning only you can access and use your passwords,” he said.
The biggest breach of 2018 exposed the data of half a billion customers of the Marriott hotel group’s Starwood properties, including the St Regis, Westin, Sheraton, Aloft, Le Meridien, Four Points and W Hotel brands.
The second-largest breach was at Twitter, affecting 330 million users when a software bug exposed passwords in plain text. Twitter said there was an issue with its password hashing system, which failed to encrypt passwords and was saving them in plain text.
source computerweekly
Industry: Cyber Security News
Latest Jobs
-
- Data Privacy Lead. Client Facing London. Permanent.
- London
- N/A
-
Data Privacy Lead. Client Facing London. Permanent. London based client facing. Must be eligible to undergo UK Security Clearance (SC) Key Responsibilities: Lead and support client facing data privacy projects. Assess compliance, define and deliver strategic projects / implement privacy solutions. Manage project teams and develop business opportunities. Required Experience: Experience in data protection and privacy standards. Background in consulting. Skills and Qualifications: Business consulting experience IAPPPrivacy Manager / Privacy Technologist Location Greater London UK based role. Not able to provide VISA sponsorship.
-
- VOIP / SIP App Developer. Contract. SIP | VOIP experience needed. SC Cleared Outside IR35 Contract. London
- London
- OUTSIDE IR35
-
SIP | VOIP Developer. SC Cleared Contract. London Looking for a SC Cleared SIP / VOIP Developer to develop an application that interacts with a set of voice and video signalling API’s You will also work on developing in-house applications, browser plugins and automated tooling to support secure communication systems. Responsibilities Develop an application that will manage number mapping and associated identities using commercial SBC API’s. Develop new user-facing features using React.js or other modern JavaScript frameworks. Build reusable components and front-end libraries for future use. Collaborate with the design team to translate UI/UX design wireframes into code. Work closely with backend developers to integrate front-end code with server-side logic. Conduct code reviews and provide constructive feedback to team members. Stay up-to-date on emerging technologies and industry trends to continuously improve our front-end development practices. Troubleshoot and debug issues that arise during development and in production environments. Maintain high coding standards and practices and ensure code is well-documented. Requirement Experience of developing specialist applications using REST API’s. Good knowledge of Go, Java and Python (open to alternative combinations of languages). Proficiency in front-end languages and frameworks such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React.js, etc. Strong understanding of web standards, responsive design, and cross-browser compatibility. Experience with version control systems such as Git. Knowledge of RESTful APIs and asynchronous request handling. Familiarity with UI/UX design principles and tools.
-
- Senior Data Privacy Consultant. Client Facing | London
- London
- N/A
-
Senior Data Privacy Consultant. Client Facing | London Senior Data Privacy Consultant needed for a key client facing opportunity. Must be willing to undergo SC Security Clearance. Hybrid role- onsite with customer / office 2-3 days a week. London Key Responsibilities: Lead and support client facing data privacy projects. Assess compliance, define and deliver strategic projects / implement privacy solutions. Manage project teams and develop business opportunities. Required Experience: Experience in data protection and privacy standards. Background in consulting. Skills and Qualifications: Business consulting experience IAPP Privacy Manager / Privacy Technologist Location Greater London UK based role. Not able to provide VISA sponsorship.
-
- Security Analyst - Internal role. London commutable. Permanent
- London
- N/A
-
Security Analyst - Internal role. London commutable opportunity. Operational Security - Investigate, escalate and proactively work to ensure household name remains protected. Project Security - Coordinate, log change requests with project delivery teams to meet security requirements Policy / compliance - work with team to aid in uplifting these as and where needed This role is role to investigate, escalate and proactively work to protect a globally recognised brand. You must have current hands on operational analytical security experience with Microsoft technology stack Someone with a SOC Analyst / security engineering background would be well suited. This position will join a small team and would suit someone that has broad experience across the security threat landscape. Experience / knowledge across industry GRC standards such NIST, ISO27001 etc very advantageous and a priority. You will work across multiple teams proactively working to secure the business. Must be able to commute to Central London 3 days a week. Visa sponsorship not available Apply today to find out more.