Russian hackers have amassed one of the largest collections of usernames, passwords, and emails after stealing details from companies around the world.
A Russian hacker group has stolen an estimated 1.2 billion Internet credentials from major US companies and others around the world in what is likely the biggest-ever data breach.
Citing researchers from Hold Security, the report said confidential user names and passwords were stolen from some 420,000 websites, ranging from household names to small Internet sites.
Hold did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the report, the hackers gained access to 500 million email accounts.
"Hackers did not just target US companies, they targeted any website they could get, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to very small websites," said Hold security founder Alex Holden told the New York Times.
The Times said the group includes fewer than a dozen men in their 20s and that their computer servers are believed to be in Russia.
Wasn't the hacker Russian?
