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24 Billion Records Exposed: The Credential Leak That Changes Everything

Philiphall •Phil Hall • June 17, 2026

Cybernews researchers have discovered an Elasticsearch database containing 24 billion exposed credentials, including usernames, passwords, and login URLs in plaintext. Here is what it means and how to protect yourself.

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This article is one source in a clustered incident — the cluster page carries the summary, timeline and every other outlet covering it.

Massive Data Leak Exposes 24 Billion Credentials: Urgent Security Risks Identified Cybernews researchers uncovered an exposed Elasticsearch database containing 24 billion records, including usernames, email addresses, and plaintext passwords. The data is primarily sourced from infostealer malware logs and Telegram channels associated with cybercrime. The breach poses a significant risk to billions of accounts, especially those lacking multi-factor authentication. The exposed data includes records from 36 distinct sources, with over 1.7 billion records traced back to Telegram channels. The sheer volume of the leak, totaling over 8 terabytes, marks it as one of the largest credential leaks in history. Cybersecurity experts emphasize the urgent need for users to change passwords and enable multi-factor authentication to mitigate risks. The leak was discovered on June 12, 2026, and has raised alarms across the cybersecurity community. 12 sources 70

Extracted Entities

24 Billion Records Exposed: The Credential Leak That Changes Everything

The full story

Extracted Entities

Attack Types (1)

CWE Weaknesses (1)

MITRE ATT&CK (1)

Platforms (1)