Russian Hackers Steal 1.2 Billion Passwords in Major Heist Affecting 420K Websites

◼ The thievery was described in a New York Times story based on the findings of Hold Security, a Milwaukee firm that has a history of uncovering online security breaches. - The Blaze

...So, far little of the information stolen in the wave of attacks appears to have been sold to other online crooks, according to the Times. Instead, the information is being used to send marketing pitches, schemes and other junk messages on social networks on Twitter, the newspaper said.

The breadth of these break-ins should serve as a chilling reminder of the skullduggery that has been going undetected on the Internet for years, said John Prisco, CEO of another security firm, Triumfant.

“This issue reminds me of an iceberg, where 90 percent of it is actually underwater,” Prisco said in an emailed statement. “That’s what is going on here… So many cyber breaches today are not actually reported, often times because companies are losing information and they are not even aware of it.”