Security researchers have sounded the alarm about a massive database of leaked passwords that has surfaced online, Forbes reported. This database, known as “RockYou2024,” is a text file containing 9,948,575,739 unique passwords stored in plain text. Late last week, hackers posted it on a popular forum.

According to experts at CyberNews, this huge collection of stolen passwords could lead to many data breaches, financial fraud, and identity theft, GB News reported. The database appears to be a mix of old and new data breaches.

The RockYou2024 leak is essentially a compilation of real-world passwords used by people worldwide. This vast number of revealed passwords significantly increases the risk of credential stuffing attacks, researchers noted. Credential stuffing is a common technique where hackers use stolen login details from one website to gain unauthorized access to another. If individuals use the same login information on multiple platforms, they become vulnerable to this type of cyberattack.

The team at CyberNews warned that threat actors could use the RockYou2024 password compilation to carry out brute-force attacks and gain unauthorized access to various online accounts. This is especially concerning for people who use the passwords included in the dataset.

RockYou2024.txt builds on an earlier leak, RockYou2021.txt, a text file shared by hackers online three years ago. To protect against credential stuffing and other types of attacks following this breach, the CyberNews team advises several steps.

The first thing they say is to change the passwords of all the accounts that use usernames that are in the database right away. Most importantly, each online account should have a unique alphanumeric password. An additional safeguard can be enabled by enabling multi-factor authentication, which may involve a one-time code texted to your phone, can provide an additional safeguard. To ensure the security of your complex passwords, use a password manager. Additionally, there exist tools that assist you in identifying potential compromises of your personal information.

A mere seventeen seconds was all it took for researchers to crack passwords consisting of eight characters or fewer. The majority of the compromised passwords consisted of uppercase and lowercase English letters combined with a few numbers, demonstrating the significance of incorporating unusual characters into passwords.

It is impossible to exaggerate the gravity of this transgression. There could be catastrophic consequences due to the exposure of approximately 10 billion unique passwords could have catastrophic consequences. Securing all internet accounts immediately is the best way to protect oneself from the fallout. To ensure the security of sensitive data, it is vital to take measures such as changing passwords, making usernames unique and strong, and utilizing multi-factor authentication.

As the RockYou2024 leak has shown, our digital lives are not immune to security flaws. It stresses how important it is to be watchful and take precautions to safeguard our online personas. If we heed the warnings of security professionals and take the appropriate precautions to protect our accounts, we can mitigate our vulnerability to cyberattacks.