Hackers leak 5mn Gmail usernames, passwords

A list containing about 4.93 million usernames and passwords from Google's Gmail user database has been leaked online by Russian hackers. The account details have been posted on bitcoin forum btcsec.com by a user.

A list containing about 4.93 million usernames and passwords from Google's Gmail user database has been leaked online by Russian hackers.

The account details have been posted on bitcoin forum btcsec.com by a user. The user, named Tvskit, said that approximately 60% of the passwords are still active.

However, Google while acknowledging the leak in a blog post, said that its servers would have blocked suspicious log-in attempts. It further said that only 2% of the password and username combos would work.

This comes just days after, Apple's high profile iCloud fiasco resulted in leaked nude images of celebrities. However, Google has denied that the leak was due to breach in its own systems.

Read: Jennifer Lawrence, Selena Gomez caught in naked photo scandal

Google said: 'Often, these credentials are obtained through a combination of other sources. For instance, if you reuse the same username and password across websites, and one of those websites gets hacked, your credentials could be used to log into the others. Or attackers can use malware or phishing schemes to capture login credentials.'

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(With inputs from agencies)

Read: Five ways to ensure your data online is safe