Ukraine catches hacker who tried to sell 773 million stolen email addresses
Today, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) announced that
it has detained the hacker, known as Sanix, who caused a stir last year for
trying to sell a database with 773 million email addresses and 21 million
unique passwords. Officials say that 87-gigabyte database was only a fraction
of the stolen data Sanix collected. He allegedly had seven similar databases,
which held personal and financial data from residents in the European Union and
North America.
The stolen data included email passwords, bank card PIN
codes, e-wallets of cryptocurrencies, PayPal accounts and info about computers
hacked for botnets and DDoS attacks. In a raid of Sanix’s residence, law
enforcement confiscated equipment with two terabytes of stolen information.
As KrebsOnSecurity points out, much of the data Sanix
amassed was years old and was a compilation of compromised credentials
primarily stolen in public breaches. But as recently as this month, Sanix was
allegedly selling access to universities and a compromised VPN account for the
government of San Bernardino, California.
If nothing else, this speaks to the massive amount of personal
information floating around on the internet, ready to be scooped up by hackers
like Sanix. It should also be a reminder to make sure your accounts are as
secure as possible.
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