Researchers have identified the largest data breach to date, exposing 16 billion accounts, including passwords for Apple, Google, and Facebook.

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by Forbes.

Vilius Petkauskas from Cybernews, whose team has been investigating the leak since the beginning of the year, stated that they discovered "30 open datasets containing from tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each." The total number of compromised records has reached 16 billion, he added.

Researchers suspect that the massive password leak is the work of several information thieves.

The 16 billion record breach contains billions of login credentials for social media, VPN services, developer portals, and user accounts from all major providers. According to researchers, this data had not previously appeared in leaks; it is entirely new information. Only one database containing 184 million passwords was known previously.

"This is not just a leak – this is a plan for mass exploitation. This is not merely a recycling of old leaks; it’s fresh, usable intelligence on a large scale," the researchers stated.

The article notes that these credentials serve as a "zero point" for phishing attacks and account takeovers.

Most of this intelligence was structured in the format of URL addresses, followed by login data and passwords. Researchers say the information contained opens doors to "virtually any online service," from Apple, Facebook, and Google to GitHub, Telegram, and various government agencies.

"The fact that these credentials are highly valuable for widely used services has far-reaching implications," said Darren Guccione, CEO and co-founder of Keeper Security.

He added that is why it is crucial for consumers to invest in password management solutions and dark web monitoring tools.

As reported by Ukrinform, American companies Microsoft and OpenAI are investigating possible unauthorized data access related to ChatGPT technology by a group linked to a Chinese AI startup DeepSeek.