Hacker steals hundreds of millions of email passwords

Online security firm Hold Security has recently alerted that more than 272.3 million email accounts have been leaked in an unprecedented cyber attack.

Among the affected are emails provided by Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. Russia's own Mail.ru email service accounts for the majority of hacked accounts - around 57 million. Suspected for the attack is a Russian hacker.

"We know [the hacker] is a young man in central Russia who collected this information from multiple sources," Alex Holden, founder and chief information security officer at Hold Security said. "We don't know the way he did it or the reason why he did it."

"Unfortunately, there are places on the internet where leaked and stolen credentials are posted, and when we come across these or someone sends them to us, we act to protect customers," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "Microsoft has security measures in place to detect account compromise and requires additional information to verify the account owner and help them regain sole access to their account."

Read more -here-

• China blocks WhatsApp
• Microsoft and Facebook's transatlantic cable completed
• Google Acquires HTC's Pixel Division
• Sprint and T-Mobile renew merger talks
• Malware discovered in CCleaner put millions of users at risk
• Pirate Bay uses visitors' CPUs to mine cryptocurrency