1.2 Billion personal records found exposed online, in one of the largest data leaks

Two dark web researchers Bob Diachenko and Vinny Troia have discovered a wide-open server containing an unprecedented 4 billion user accounts spanning more than 4 terabytes of data. A total count of unique people across all datasets reached more than 1.2 billion people, making this one of the largest data leaks from a single source organization in history. The leaked data contained names, email addresses, phone numbers, LinkedIN and Facebook profile information. The dataset appeared to be composed of smaller datasets cobbled together, from various data brokers, such as People Data Labs. According to Wired, the fact that neither data broker could rule out the possibility that one of their customers mishandled their data speaks to the larger security and privacy issues inherent in the business of buying and selling data.