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5 million stolen Gmail user names and passwords have leaked online

Published Sep 10th, 2014 12:54PM EDT
Gmail User Name Password Leak

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No, iCloud isn’t the only popular online service that runs into security problems every now and then. FreedomHacker brings us word that roughly 5 million different Gmail user names and passwords have been posted online on a Russian Bitcoin forum and it looks like phishing scammers are already using the leak to lure in unsuspecting users to enter in their user names and passwords into websites that purport to help them figure out if their passwords have been compromised or not.

FROM EARLIER: Apple provides key new details on the massive iCloud hack of nude celebrity pics

The origin of the email addresses and passwords still isn’t known although FreedomHacker writes that “many are speculating the email addresses were leaked from another website or a compilation of other websites and not from Google itself.” Other speculation claims that this leaked information occurred thanks to weak passwords or from phishing attacks, just as Apple claimed occurred with iCloud.

At any rate, if you get an email from a friend’s Gmail in the near future that informs you that they’re stuck at an airport overseas and need to have money wired to them as soon as possible, then you can probably thank the Russian hackers who first posted these leaked passwords online.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.