Another day, another massive cyber crime. Get those passwords changed! | #cybercrime | #infosec

20 June 2025, 14:20 | Updated: 20 June 2025, 14:24

Another day, another massive cyber crime. But how did we get here?

If you’re a user of Apple, Facebook or Google services – in other words, pretty much anyone that uses the Internet, experts have warned you should change your password immediately.

New research from CyberNews suggests an eye watering 16bn online records have found their way onto the darkweb – and it’s a new and recent set of information.

It’s said the data also includes Instagram, Microsoft, Netflix, Paypal, Roblox, Discord, Telegram and the coding platform, GitHub have all been affected.

Read more: Apple, Facebook and Google users urged to change passwords following colossal data breach

We’re not sure how hackers got hold of this data yet – and that’s the problem. As I write, all signs point to criminals using so-called “infostealer” malware – this is malicious software that’s specifically made to breach large computer systems and databases to steal information from large computer systems – hoovering up login information, financial data, and other identifiable data that could be useful for hackers.

There’s also a few signs that some of this data may have originally been collected by ethical hackers – those whose job it is to spot flaws in systems, and get permission from owners to hack them so they can improve security. This likely means good hackers got hacked by bad hackers? Confused? You should be.

Whatever the reality – this is the equivalent of a country suddenly finding a whole 20 years of crude oil under the surface. If data was oil – this would be prime Saudi crude, not what you find in the North Sea – fresh, rich and current. The concern is this data will end up more widely in the hands of hackers who want might want to max out your credit card – or flog your Netflix login for a £1 or less online.

Also – alongside our passwords and email addresses, the data dump included a load of methods for hackers to potentially access protected services – making it a concern for businesses who haven’t properly locked down their services with multi-factor authentication – that’s where you use a text message, or a special app as well as your password.

Perhaps the most concerning thing about this breach is that none of these companies named, or have data contained in the leak have publicly stated they have been part of a data breach. So, if this data hasn’t come from them – where did it come from, and how else has it? That’s the challenge of being online in 2025 – our information has literally splurged everywhere, thanks in part to other services collecting up our data when they don’t really have a good reason to have it.

The sad reality is that data breaches are part of the cost of being online in 2025 – and the risks of being unwittingly caught up in cyber crime, no matter how careful you are with your own data.

I don’t think this is anywhere near to the last we’re going to hear of this particular breach – but as I’ve written before, the more of these leaks we hear of, the less alert and concerned we become by them. We need to stay across this – because it’s just a matter of time before our banks stop protecting us if they can prove we’ve been sloppy with our online security. Get changing those passwords now!