Review: Russian Hackers Revealed 5 Million Usernames and Passwords

Great news and bad news to Gmail username availability. The bad news is that someone has manipulated Gmail and revealed 5 million usernames and passwords and made them available to the public. The good news is Google has made a solution to it - that even if your Gmail address is on the list, the password may be obsolete enough to merit much concern.

A Russian tech blog, Habrahabr, theoretically says that the leaks were most likely compiled using a phishing scam. This is one of the main reasons why Gmail requires a strong password to all of their users to avoid compromises. Weak passwords might be their targets, and hacking them is as easy as 123.

A similar database or email address was also made public earlier this week, including Yandex and Mail.ru.

Last September 10, the Australian Security Researcher, Troy Hunt, tweeted that he will soon be adding up the Gmail addresses to his very own haveibeenpwned.com - a compromised-email checking website, which sums up the results of large password scrap heaps.

An informal poll of the Tom's Guide New York Office said that not all people seemed to be affected by this issue. This makes sense as Gmail proves to have 500 million users worldwide, and only one percent of this password breach may have affected them.

However, if you are one of the 5 million users affected, you don't have to worry about it. Many of the passwords are found out to be outdated. Some have been found out to be three years older. Therefore, if you change your password on a regular basis, even on a semi-regular basis, as recommended by Gmail.

Cybercriminals most likely doesn't have any ways to access your personal accounts and information. If your account has been compromised, the best thing to do is to change your password and make it totally different from the old one, plus consider adding two-step verification to your account.

If you will not do this, you will get the chance of being hacked as password breaches are relatively common, but tend to be overblown.

It is definitely the user's prerogative, whether they follow Gmail's instructions or not. However, the risk is always there. It has always been known that hackers are spread all over the network; therefore, extra care is needed to avoid email compromises.

Users must bear in mind that the internet is full of hackers and viruses, always around to hit victims.