711 million email accounts leaked online

[Kevin]

Thanks to an alert from Suparoo:

Including 12.5 million Australian email accounts leaked online


The email addresses of 711 million people have been published online, and include those of 12.5 million Australians.
The personal data has been dumped on a server called Onliner Spambot, which since 2016 has been used to spread malware to steal banking details, and infect people’s computers so they send out viruses and spam (unwanted emails).

The two types of data on the Onliner Spambot server are:

• Email addresses. These are used to send spam and may contain malicious links. For example, one email sent by the server purported to be from Roads and Maritime in NSW and related to E-tags for paying tolls. Because the email looked as if it came from a legitimate source, unsuspecting users could click on the link and go through to a bogus website to pay.
• Email addresses and passwords. These are used to send spam from user accounts using their internet provider’s mail servers so they look genuine and bypass anti-junk measures.

It is thought the email addresses with passwords match those leaked in the 2012 LinkedIn data breach, and that two million addresses come from a Facebook phishing campaign. Some email addresses appear to have been scraped from websites and are incorrect.
Find out if your email address has been breached

To find out if your email address has been published in a data breach, go to https://haveibeenpwned.com and follow the prompts.
What you should do now

If you find that your email has been breached, change your password immediately.
Ways to protect yourself

• Create strong and unique passwords and don’t use the same password for multiple online accounts.
• Use a password manager.
• Understand that scams exist and use caution online.
• Criminals may use information they gather about you from social media in order to make their messages more appealing or appear more authentic.
• Don’t open messages or click on links if you don’t know the sender.
• Avoid malicious messages—don’t share your email address online unless you need to.

What to do if your identity is stolen

• Notify your financial institutions.
• Change your passwords.
• Notify the relevant websites.
• Request a credit report from a reputable credit reference bureau.
  

[El_Freddo]

Hey Kevin, good info to know!

Firstly, the have I been pawned link doesn't work - unless that's part of a scam...

Secondly, I recently had an email from an old friend who only gave their first name and emailed from an address unknown to me. They then tried again recently so I've cautiously emailed them back for further verification as to who they are exactly.

We'll see where that goes. They're still on my junk mail list at this point in time and they've not sent any links or attachments.

Also, I'm getting text messages stating that I've won or could win prizes from places like Myer etc - all I need to do is follow the link provided in the email. Delete! First thing I do with those texts. I reckon I'm getting about one a week, last one being from Myer.

It never ends does it?

Cheers

Bennie

[Kevin]

I fixed the link to directly access the site - seems the federal government staysmartonline site is not working properly, surprise surprise!

Here's the government home page for reference: https://www.staysmartonline.gov.au/

[El_Freddo]

Well I've checked out as all good.

And that email turned out to be a scam of some sort - got a reply email asking to have an affair or some ****. And had other emails with the exact same subject/message but with a different email address. All marked as scams with my email provider.

Cheers

Bennie

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by El_Freddo

- got a reply email asking to have an affair

and???? I promise I won't tell

[subyroo]

Originally Posted by Kevin

and???? I promise I won't tell

I think he might have had 1 too many Rums Kev.

[El_Freddo]

Originally Posted by Kevin

and???? I promise I won't tell

Sent packing via the phishing scam button

And really, an affair? Did you fall for that? Scammed! They want your money, not your body or sexual prowess in the bedroom (or car/local park - where ever you saw this affair happening)...

Can't be too careful these days!

Cheers

Bennie