A group of Russian criminals have breached security to more than 420,000 websites and collected more than 1.2 billion user names and password combinations and access to moreo than 500 million email addresses, according to the New York Times.The stolen online records were discovered by Hold Security, a security firm in Milwaukee. The records included confidential material for household name websites and smaller websites. The Times also reported that Hold Security has a history of uncovering significant hacks, including the theft of millions of records from Adobe Systems.This infiltration is the latest incident in a series of hacking incidents to large company databases. Security experts believe that hackers will continue breaking into computer networks unless companies become more vigilant, reported the Associated Press.“It’s scary to think that random people we don’t know may have gotten into our personal accounts,” said Kiele Young, a sophomore from Kauai studying psychology.Hold Security firm would not release the name of the victims due to nondisclosure agreements. It is believed the criminals have not sold many of the records on-line, however, they have been hacking into social networks and using accounts to send out spam in forms of links and then collecting fees for their work.“Right when this news started coming out my Facebook account was just hacked and doing exactly that, sending links to random websites,” said Logan Sprouse, a freshman from Utah studying social work.The hacking ring is based in a small city in south central Russia and only includes a little less than a dozen of men in their 20s who personally know each other. It has divisions within itself according to the founder of Hold Security. Some of the members write the program while others are stealing data.“The setup was not rare. They used botnets [and] infected computers to infiltrate vulnerable targets. I think in a group setting the idea of assigning tasks to divide the work makes sense,” said Tim Watson, a senior from Alaska studying information technology.The sites are still vulnerable, Hold Security reported, and they emphasized the hackers continue to exploit the vulnerability and collect data. This makes it more important than ever to take steps to protect yourself online.
Writer: Jared Roberts ~ Multimedia Journalist
