{"id":90109,"date":"2021-06-29T11:25:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T05:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.quickheal.com\/?p=90109"},"modified":"2024-03-20T16:31:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T11:01:29","slug":"rockyou2021-massive-data-leak-of-passwords-on-the-dark-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/rockyou2021-massive-data-leak-of-passwords-on-the-dark-web\/","title":{"rendered":"RockYou2021: Massive data leak of passwords on the dark web"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The issue of\u00a0a data breach<\/span><\/a>\u00a0continues to plague the world of cybersecurity. What seems to be the most extensive password collection of all time has been leaked on the dark web. The source? An anonymous forum poster uploaded a 100GB TXT compilation file of stolen and leaked passwords, containing 8.4 billion entries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know about the massive data leak \u201cRockYou2021\u201d and how to secure your data and avoid potential harm from threat actors.<\/p>\n

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What is RockYou2021?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

RockYou2021 is dubbed as the mother of all password<\/a> leaks! According to the reports<\/a>, the forum user named the collection RockYou2021 in reference to the 2009 RockYou<\/a> data breach, where 32 million leaked passwords had been stored in plaintext.<\/p>\n

Considering that the total number of Internet users is\u00a0estimated<\/a>\u00a0to be approximately 4.7 billion, the number of leaked credential data is staggering! The perpetrators likely possess multiple passwords used by millions of people.<\/p>\n

As per security analysts who have examined the data breach, none of the leaked passwords is new but seems to have been compiled over several years. Many of the passwords in the file have been leaked in previous data breaches, including the Combination of Many Breaches<\/a>\u00a0in February 2021, which leaked 3.2 billion records online.<\/p>\n

The person who uploaded this text file has claimed that all the passwords in the list are 6-20 characters long, and non-ASCII characters & white spaces have been removed. The person had also claimed that 82 million passwords had been leaked, but an investigation by security analysts has proved that it is actually ten times less. However, it remains the largest password and credentials leak of its kind in history.<\/p>\n

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Does it affect me?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The sheer scale of the number of leaked passwords, even the actual figure of 8.4 billion, is massive. A password you use could well be on the leaked list. Threat actors could use the credentials provided on the list to carry out\u00a0credential stuffing attacks<\/a>. So yes, if you are an Internet user with an online account, the RockYou2021 data breach could very well affect you.<\/p>\n

With RockYou2021, hackers are looking to begin mass credential stuffing or more targeted credentials attacks. Given that your data was likely to be involved in this leak, you need to reset your passwords.<\/p>\n

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Tips to keep in mind to ensure the security of your account<\/strong><\/h2>\n