http://news.techworld.com/security/3502442/pastebin-analysis-reveals-true-scale-of-2013-data-breaches/
By John E Dunn
Techworld
18 February 2014
The true scale of global data breaches must reach into the hundreds of
millions, according to Swiss penetration testing outfit High-Tech Bridge
which has discovered that 311,095 user credentials were posted to the
popular Pastebin website during 2013 alone.
That haul represents the number of user records (i.e. logins and other
credentials) posted to the site although in some cases the records were
deleted so the firm fished them out of Google’s cache.
Although it's a small number in relation to the tens of millions of
records stolen in November from US retailer Target, the 311,095 represents
only a miniscule fraction of the total number of records hackers must have
lifted from organisations and individuals during the year.
According to High-Tech Bridge, because hackers use Pastebin to post
samples, what they found probably represents somewhere between a tenth of
one percent and one percent of the total in play at any one time. The firm
said it had been careful to remove fake hacks, duplicates and small crimes
below 100 records.
[...]
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