A Million Passwords Stolen Every Month, Google’s Cyber Security Report Reveals

By Aditya in Google

Google has been the numero uno player when it comes to the world of internet technology. The company has been working on expanding their reach to a number of internet related businesses and fields. One such domain that Google operates in is cyber security. The Google security team comprises of some of the best researchers from across the world.

Latest reports from Google’s security division now indicate that over a million passwords are stolen every month. In a cyber security study Google conducted between March 2016 to March 2017, the researchers made their way through the dark web and the underground markets that sell this kind of data.

Hijacked consumer data, including logins to websites are among the most popularly sold commodity in the dark web. Google made use of this information and applied it to their use. The company claims that they have protected 67 Million potential accounts from getting hijacked. This cyber security study tracked several markets and here are some astonishing numbers:

25,000 tools used to hack passwords.
788,000 passwords stolen via keyloggers
12 Million passwords stolen via phishing
3.3 Billion passwords stolen via 3rd party breaches.

These are some scary and alarming numbers. Especially at a time when many cyber security experts believe that phishing and keyloggers are a thing of the past.

This isn’t even the first time this year that this cyber security issue is being raised. We saw many high profile hacks in 2017, such as Equifax and LinkedIn hacks. 12% of all these hacked credentials included Gmail addresses. Google has introduced many tools to protect the users over the years. 2 Factor Authentication is one of them where if Google detects a suspicious login attempt, it would ask the user to verify via a text received on their mobile number, or via accepting a prompt on their connected phone.

Google has also been working towards making web browsers secure with malicious auto-redirects no longer being allowed following the upcoming Google Chrome 64 update. It is essential to ensure that you have 2 Factor Authentication turned on and use a strong internet security program to keep yourself protected! You can also run a quick security checkup from Google here.

Source: Google