no, billions of Google and Microsoft accounts have not been hacked

” A leak of billions of hacked accounts has just emerged from the depths of the web! », Announced many sites last February. This is what we read on the site of RTL. ” Over 3 Billion Gmail and Hotmail Passwords Leaked Online ». This is the result of a ” massive hacking »Specified The New Republic. ” 15.2 billion hacked accounts and over 2.5 billion unique emails “, according to The voice of the North.

At the origin of these disturbing claims is an article published 10 days earlier, on the English-speaking site Cybernews, which was the subject of multiple misunderstandings. Cybernews notices the posting on a hacker forum of what is called “Comb”, for “compilation of many breaches”. This is not the result of a new “hack” or an unprecedented “attack”, but a compilation of previous and already known leaks.

In addition, there are not Gmail passwords per se, but “mail – password” associations that have been used on platforms that have been attacked. If a Gmail is listed in Comb, it is because it is used to connect to a platform, so this does not mean that this Gmail account has been hacked. The risk arises especially for people using the same password for their email and their accounts on other websites.

Finally, Comb does not compile data for 15.2 billion accounts. This confusion arose out of the original Cybernews article, where Internet users were asked to check their email for any previous leaks, using a search engine with 15 billion entries. But there were already as many, on the same engine, long before the appearance of Comb. In short, not much new under the sun of web pirates.

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