Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - Gmail users have been urged to check their accounts after more than 183 million passwords were stolen in a data breach.
Australian cyber expert Troy Hunt, who revealed the
incident, called it a 'vast corpus' of breached data, which totals 3.5
terrabytes. He explained that's the equivalent of 875 full-length HD
movies.
According to Mr Hunt, 'all the major providers have
email addresses in there' – so not just Gmail, but Outlook, Yahoo and others
too.
'They're from everywhere you could imagine, but Gmail always
features heavily,' Hunt told the Daily Mail.
The incident occurred in April but has only just been
disclosed on Mr Hunt's Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) website.
According to the expert, breached data contained 183 million
unique email addresses alongside the websites they were entered into and the
passwords used.
Mr Hunt added that the incident is not a single breach but a
collection of 'stealer logs' – a series of data files generated and
compiled by 'malware' (malicious software).
'Stealer logs are more of a firehose of data that's just
constantly spewing personal info all over the place,' Mr Hunt explained in his
blog post.
'Once the bad guys have your data, it often replicates over
and over again via numerous channels and platforms.'
Mr. Hunt urged people to check if they've been compromised,
by heading to the Have I Been Pwned website and entering their email
address in the search bar.
Next, tap on the button marked 'Check' and the site will
show you the list of data breaches affecting your email address.
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