An urgent warning has been issued to people with online accounts to change their passwords now after the “largest data breach in history”.
Cybersecurity experts at Cybernews found that 16 million passwords have been breached across 30 different databases, meaning your accounts might not be secure.
The leaked data includes login information from almost every online service you can think of, including Apple, Facebook, Google, GitHub and Telegram. So, people are being urged to change all of their passwords immediately to protect their information.
“Cybercriminals now have unprecedented access to personal credentials and could exploit them for account takeovers, identity theft, and targeted phishing attacks,” Cybernews said.
The data was only available for a very short amount of time, but it’s still important to take action. A strong password should be at least 15 characters long and include a mixture of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
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“This is not just a leak – it’s a blueprint for mass exploitation. With over 16 billion login records exposed, cybercriminals now have unprecedented access to personal credentials that can be used for account takeover, identity theft, and highly targeted phishing,” researchers added.
“What’s especially concerning is the structure and recency of these datasets – these aren’t just old breaches being recycled. This is fresh, weaponizable intelligence at scale.”
It’s not one person who has hacked 16 million different passwords. The breach compiles data from various different infostealers across the world, but the breaches are all recent. Cybernews’ team has been closely monitoring the web since the start of 2025.
Hackers can use passwords to steal your identity for malicious activity, track your online activity, steal your personal information like credit card information and even send phishing messages to your contacts.
People also have a habit of using the same password across websites, so they can gain access to other accounts, such as online banking. It’s recommended that you use different passwords across your online profiles to avoid this.
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