Robin Tombs, CEO and Co-Founder of identity manager firm Yoti, said: ‘This latest news of 770 million email addresses and passwords being exposed on a hacking forum shows just how flawed passwords are for protecting our online accounts.
Troy Hunt, who runs the Have I Been Pwned breach-notification service, found the leak on cloud-service MEGA and called it ‘Collection #1’.
Although a significant chunk of the information in ‘Collection #1’ is already known to the world, the researcher believes 140 million previously safe email addresses have been leaked.
‘Millions of people will now have the worry and stress of whether their details are part of this data collection.
‘With the average person having 191 passwords, convenience often trumps security and many of us reuse the same password across different websites.
‘While using the same easy to remember password makes life easier for individuals managing an ever-growing number of online accounts, it makes it equally simple for hackers to strike.
‘They can use an email address and password obtained from a breach to access an individual’s accounts and valuable personal information.
‘With the development of password managers, help is at hand. They can securely store your login details – eliminating the need to remember all of your passwords.
‘Crucially they can be secured with your unique biometrics rather than a master password – meaning only you can access and use your passwords.’