Russian gang in biggest ever hack

A Russian group has hacked 1.2 billion usernames and passwords belonging to more than 500 million email addresses, according to Hold Security - a US firm specialising in discovering breaches.

Hold Security described the hack as the "largest data breach known to date".

It claimed the stolen information came from more than 420,000 websites, including "many leaders in virtually all industries across the world".

After discovering the breach and scoring a high-profile story on New York Times, the security firm is now demanding a fee from users who want to know if they are affected. This means users will have to shell out $120 simply to know if they are a victim

In reply to a post by bobble_bob:

Now i dont doubt the hack, but clearly its in Hold Security's interest to overplay the situation and scare users into paying. Seems wrong

Edited by billford (Sat 09-Aug-14 11:46:02)