Around 4.93 million Gmail usernames and passwords were posted by hackers in a Russian Bitcoin forum according to international media reports.
The International Business Times reported that a database of 4.93 million Google accounts of mostly English, Spanish, and Russian origin were posted in an online forum. It also reported that around 60 percent of the compromised accounts are still active and valid accounts that could be accessed any time.
Meanwhile, The Next Web reported that the leak was not a result of a security breach in Google’s systems. The accounts were the result of hacks outside the Gmail system like email phishing activities.
The administrators of the forum have already removed the passwords from the posted database.
Everyone is advised to exercise caution in accessing links in websites and emails. Also, everyone is encouraged to do best practices in passwords like changing them regularly and using mixed characters.
