Everything You Need To Know About The Record Data Breach Leaking 16 Billion Passwords

We're almost sure you saw that alarming story about a record data breach that leaked 16 billion passwords from Apple, Google, and Facebook, which immediately caused a gasp. Here is the lowdown on it.







The story that shook the entire internet and prompted users to change their passwords was published by Cybernews, an outlet dedicated solely to cybersecurity news. The outlet dropped the bombshell that 16 billion passwords were exposed as part of a record-breaking data breach affecting three major tech companies, as well as numerous other organizations.




However, according to ZDNet, there might have been a bit of an overreaction to the report, as the website dug deeper, dissecting all the details.




Per ZDNet:




Despite what the headline says, the reported 16 billion passwords didn't come from a single massive data breach. Rather, this is based on 30 different datasets that Cybernews said it's been monitoring since the beginning of 2025.




"Our team has been closely monitoring the web since the beginning of the year," Cybernews said. "So far, they've discovered 30 exposed datasets containing from tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each. In total, the researchers uncovered an unimaginable 16 billion records."




Further reading of the Cybernews story reveals that the data was only exposed long enough for researchers to see it, but not long enough for them to find the source of the data.




The report also points out that the data wasn't necessarily "new" and was "a mixture of information from infostealer malware, credential stuffing sets, and repackaged leaks."

The 16 Billion Number Could Have Been Inflated

Cybernews also claims that the 16 billion number is possibly inflated due to leaks coming from multiple data sets, which means there could be many duplicate records.




The website is also calling CAP on the eye-catching headline from other news outlets, claiming Facebook, Google, and Apple credentials were leaked.




Bob Diachenko, a Cybernews contributor, cybersecurity researcher, and owner of SecurityDiscovery.com, told the website that there was no breach of those companies.




Still, there is some cause for concern, and you should change your passwords, just to be safe.




You can head here to read the whole story.



via: https://hiphopwired.com/2749948/data-breach-16-billion-passwords-explanation/