So, I just read about this and these kinds of things always make me uncomfortable because it just shows how pervasive cyber crime is. I don't panic, but I always worry about this things in our ever increasingly digital media where most of our lives are tied up to the cyber world. Be it through phones, consoles, PCs, they all use the internet and I always worry about these things. Anyway, read the article and share your thoughts and opinions.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/personal/2014/08/05/russian-gang-stolen-passwords/13639285/

The article said they mostly targeted SQL servers. Can someone please explain what an SQL server is?


Thank you.

Database servers. So, the kind of servers that store usernames, emails, and (hopefully salted, hashed) passwords.

Obviously database servers can do other things too, but if the attackers were going after usernames and passwords, these would be the ones targeted most.

I do kind of find it odd that there were no companies or sites named directly in this attack.

Ninja'd.

1.2 Billion

That's like all of the internet.

They have not stolen all the passwords from 1.2 billion people.

They have stolen 1.2 billion individual passwords. Each people on the Internet probably have several to several dozen passwords.

I probably have at least a dozen.

I just counted mine and had a WTF moment.

I have 51 semi-unique passwords (there's about 5 base words, 8 different number combos, and about 5 misc character modifiers) and if I need more I can continue to mix them, but at this point adding another baseword would be the best bet.

They can have fun spending the rest of their lives sifting through those 1 billion passwords. Too much work if you asked me.

lol i bet a lot are spammer forum account information.

I have 70 plus unique passwords in my password manager.

I think I'll start changing the more important ones (bank/emails/etc) on a more regular basis. Most have been the same for years, but it's something I have considered before this story arose. It just helped kick me in the pants if you will.

P.S.

Most importantly, I'll be changing the password manager password...