June 23, 2025: A jaw-dropping 16 billion login credentials—including access to platforms like Facebook, Google, Apple, GitHub, and even government services—have been exposed in what researchers are calling the largest data breach ever recorded.
According to a report from Cybernews, this unprecedented breach is not just a case of old data resurfacing. It includes fresh, structured, and highly weaponizable information collected largely from infostealer malware, credential stuffing, and recycled leaks.
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Cybersecurity experts Aras Nazarovas and Bob Diachenko, who uncovered the breach, warn that the leaked data provides a “blueprint for mass exploitation,” enabling account takeovers, identity theft, ransomware, phishing attacks, and business email compromise (BEC) on an alarming scale.
The leaked databases—many housed in unsecured Elasticsearch or cloud storage—were briefly accessible online before being taken down. Yet, in that short window, researchers were able to analyze the massive trove: data that includes URLs, usernames, passwords, tokens, cookies, and metadata, exactly the structure modern malware seeks.
While overlap exists across the 30+ exposed datasets, the scale and recency of the data raise concerns about how frequently new records are being stolen and traded online. One previously reported breach—184 million records—now appears small in comparison.
The silver lining? The datasets weren’t public for long, and the source operators remain unidentified. Still, researchers urge individuals and organizations to immediately review their credential hygiene, enable multi-factor authentication, and monitor accounts for suspicious activity.