Urgent alert for Americans as 184 million passwords leak in major data breach - what you must do now

A cybersecurity expert named Jeremiah Fowler found a huge online database that was not protected. This database had over 184 million records, including emails, passwords, and login links, all in plain text. The leaked info is linked to big companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and even banks and government services, according to the report by Wired.

Fowler said this leak is more dangerous than usual because it gives direct access to people’s accounts. He called it a "cybercriminal’s dream working list". This leak can cause identity theft, fraud, and hacking if people don’t act, according to reports.

In 2023, data breaches increased by 72%, even though about 353 million were affected. But in 2024, even though the number of breaches stayed high, the number of people affected jumped by 312%. This was because of mega-breaches like this one.

Many companies are now using cloud services like AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure to save money, but this also increases the risk of hacking. An IBM report said 82% of breaches last year involved cloud-stored data, as per Wall Street Journal report.

Overseas support agents at the crypto exchange app Coinbase were allegedly bribed by hackers on May 11 for getting access to the app's customer database. Coinbase didn’t pay ransom, but the damage could still cost them up to $400 million.

Change your passwords immediately. Each account should have a unique password and should consist of as many keypad characters as possible to maintain its strength. Don’t reuse the same or similar passwords on multiple websites. Use multi-factor authentication wherever possible. This adds an extra safety layer. Freeze your credit with the 3 major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. It won’t hurt your score but stops new accounts being opened in your name, as per the report by Moneywise.

Try tools like Google’s Password Checkup to see if your login info has already been leaked. If it has, change those passwords now. Set up transaction alerts on your credit cards to catch any weird activity early. Make sure your email and phone number linked to your bank and shopping accounts are up to date, so you get alerts quickly. Teresa Murray summed it up best, “This is a wake-up call for people who haven’t been careful online”, as per reports.

FAQs

Q1. What was leaked in the password breach?
Emails, passwords, and login links from many big platforms were leaked.

Q2. What should a person do if their data gets leaked?
Change your passwords, turn on two-factor login, and freeze your credit if needed.