I reported on a data leak earlier this year that included a whopping 184,162,718 passwords and logins affecting the likes of Apple, Facebook and Instagram users. That data leak was disclosed on May 22, and now, in what coukld, or could not be, a rather spooky seeming coincidence, news of 183 million passwords and login credentials from an April 2025 leak has emerged. Adding the details of website URLs, email addresses and passwords to the Have I Been Pwned database, owner Troy Hunt said the data consisted of both “stealer logs and credential stuffing lists” including confirmed Gmail login credentials. While confirming that all major email providers have credentials within the leak database, including Microsoft Outlook and Yahoo, Hunt has said that “they’re from everywhere you could imagine, but Gmail always features heavily.” Here’s what we know and what you need to do. Have I Been Pwned is something a staple resource for anyone who is genuinely concerned about their account login security. Why so? Because it’s the go-to for discovering when any of your email addresses, accounts or passwords are found in data leaks, dark web password breach lists and the like. Best of all, it’s entirely free to use. When a new entry appears with the number of affected accounts being 183 million, and the compromised data listed as email addresses and passwords, more than a few heads will pop up above the parapets and pay attention. Mine certainly did following the Oct. 21 addition. Having done some digging for further information, I was drawn to a lengthy analysis by Hunt himself, which looked inside the Synthient threat data provided to HIBP. Benjamin Brundage from Synthient revealed in a blog posting that the data came from the results of monitoring infostealer platforms across the course of close to a year. The total amount of information sent to HIBP comprised 3.5 terabytes of data, 23 billion rows of it in all. The output of the stealer logs concerned, Hunt said, consisted primarily of three things: website address, email address and password. “Someone logging into Gmail,” Hunt wrote, “ends up with their email address and password captured against gmail.com, hence the three parts.” Of course, there’s a lot of recycling of credentials that goes on in the cybercriminal world, so Hunt initially wanted to check the freshness of the database he had in his hands. An analysis of a 94,000 sample revealed 92% were not, in fact, new. “Most of what has been seen before was in the ALIEN TXTBASE stealer logs,” Hunt confirmed. However, the math wizards out there will have noted that this steal leaves 8% that is new and fresh, or more than 14 million credentials if you extrapolate it. Actually, the final tally was 16.4 million previously unseen addresses in any data breach, not just stealer logs. HIBP also checks to see if the credentials are genuine by sending out some of the details to people on the subscriber base who are impacted. “One of the respondents was already concerned there could be something wrong with his Gmail account,” Hunt said, and that person was able to validate that the entry was “an accurate password on my Gmail account.” Google has taken to social media to try to stem the misreporting concerning this incident, which has been framed as 183 million Gmail accounts being breached, which is incorrect, as my article explains in some detail. I have reprinted the entire statement here in the hopes of adding even further clarification. “Reports of a “Gmail security breach impacting millions of users” are false. Gmail’s defenses are strong, and users remain protected. The inaccurate reports are stemming from a misunderstanding of infostealer databases, which routinely compile various credential theft activity occurring across the web. It’s not reflective of a new attack aimed at any one person, tool, or platform. Users can protect themselves from credential theft by turning on 2-step verification and adopting passkeys as a stronger and safer alternative to passwords, and resetting passwords when they are found in large batches like this. Gmail takes action when we spot large batches of open credentials, helping users reset passwords and resecure accounts.” Of course, it is not just Gmail users who will be affected by this leak, so I would advise everyone to go and check at HIBP to see if their account credentials might be included. I reached out to my contacts at Google for a statement, and a spokesperson told me: “This report covers broad infostealer activity that targets many types of web activities. When it comes to email, users can help protect themselves by turning on 2-step verification and adopting passkeys as a simpler and stronger alternative to passwords." Google also advised Gmail users that if they have any reason to believe that their accounts have been hacked, they should immediately sign in and review the account activity. If you can’t sign in, Google said, then head for the account recovery page and answer the questions that are presented to the best of your ability. “Additionally, to help users, we have a process for resetting passwords when we come across large credential dumps such as this,” Google noted. Of course, it is not just Gmail users who will be affected by this leak, so I would advise everyone to go and check at HIBP to see if their account credentials might be included. I reached out to my contacts at Google for a statement, and a spokesperson told me: “This report covers broad infostealer activity that targets many types of web activities. When it comes to email, users can help protect themselves by turning on 2-step verification and adopting passkeys as a simpler and stronger alternative to passwords." Google also advised Gmail users that if they have any reason to believe that their accounts have been hacked, they should immediately sign in and review the account activity. If you can’t sign in, Google said, then head for the account recovery page and answer the questions that are presented to the best of your ability. “Additionally, to help users, we have a process for resetting passwords when we come across large credential dumps such as this,” Google noted. Learn more by visiting OUR FORUM.