{"id":72708,"date":"2014-09-11T00:33:18","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T22:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=72708"},"modified":"2025-07-02T00:28:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:28:58","slug":"5-million-gmail-passwords-possibly-exposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/5-million-gmail-passwords-possibly-exposed\/","title":{"rendered":"5 million internet passwords exposed (updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five million Gmail<\/span> internet passwords have apparently been exposed, though there is speculation where these passwords are being used. According to RT<\/em>, the password and email pairs were leaked onto a Russian cyber security forum<\/strong>. An administrator for the forum has since removed the passwords, leaving only the exposed logins.<\/p>\n

There’s no indication that Google’s services were actually attacked in order to obtain the passwords. Hackers could have exploited other databases<\/strong> to obtain passwords that coincidentally work with some Gmail accounts.<\/span> Google has responded on its Online Security Blog<\/a> that there is no evidence that its systems were hacked. The company tested the leaked usernames and passwords and found that only 2% of them worked accessing Google accounts. The company has locked down the affected accounts and are requiring those users to change their passwords.<\/p>\n

Google speculates the leaked passwords could have come from “a combination of other sources” like phishing attempts and malware attacks. Google recommends users check their security settings at g.co\/accountcheckup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you want to see if your username and password are included in this leak, you can use KnowEm’s\u00a0online tool<\/a> to check. If you’re not comfortable entering your email address, you can replace up to three characters with asterisks and it’ll show a bunch of results that match the pattern. If you don’t want to deal with using this tool, it’s best that you just change your Gmail password and enable two-factor authentication<\/a> if you haven’t already.<\/p>\n

While we don’t know the full details about the leak, Google Russia is currently investigating and we’ll report back when we know more.<\/p>\n

For tips about how to protect your online identity<\/strong>, check out our guide here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong>: I’ve updated the post with KnowEm’s website instead of the original isleaked.com site because its origins are suspect. You can read about the controversy here<\/a>. The article has also been updated with comment from Google.<\/p>\n

Source: RT<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/h3>\n

FBI & CIA use the same software as hackers to access iCloud accounts<\/a><\/p>\n

Facebook Privacy Checkup helps you understand who sees your posts<\/a><\/p>\n

WhatsApp bug is resetting some users’ privacy settings<\/a><\/p>\n

Apple announces Apple Pay digital wallet<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow me on Twitter: @lewisleong<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five million Gmail internet passwords have apparently been exposed, though there is speculation where these passwords are being used. According to RT, the password and email pairs were leaked onto a Russian cyber security forum. An administrator for the forum has since removed the passwords, leaving only the exposed logins. There’s no indication that Google’s … Continue reading “5 million internet passwords exposed (updated)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":69814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[2339],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-72708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-app-subdomain-redirectiongmail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t