Cybersecurity experts say 16 billion passwords have been leaked, affecting Apple, Google and Facebook users

 

 

Cybersecurity experts have revealed that the largest data leak in history has occurred, affecting Facebook, Google and Apple users. Researchers have found that login information containing 16 billion passwords has been leaked. There were earlier reports that an unknown database containing 184 million records was found on a web server.

Researchers investigating the data leak since the beginning of 2025 have found 30 data sites containing between 1 million and 3.5 million records. This is login information, including billions of passwords. Researchers say that this is not just a data leak, but a blueprint for a large-scale exploitation plan.

Multiple infostealers are reported to be behind this data leak. These can be used for a variety of illegal activities, such as phishing attacks, hacking accounts, and taking over emails of commercial institutions. Researchers say that these are open doors to platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google, Telegram, Apple, GitHub, and various government services. The database contains the URLs of websites, their login information, and their passwords.

The researchers point out that managing passwords is essential. The fact that the majority of the 1.6 billion database is passwords to widely used services reveals its far-reaching implications, said Darren Guccione, co-founder and CEO of Keeper Security.