Russian hackers steal 1.2bn usernames and passwords

Russian hackers have stolen 1.2bn usernames and passwords in a series of internet heists affecting 420,000 websites — in what is likely to be the biggest data breach ever recorded.

The thievery was described in a New York Times story based on the findings of Hold Security, a Milwaukee firm that has a history of uncovering online security breaches.

“As long as your data is somewhere on the World Wide Web, you may be affected by this breach,” Hold said in a statement on its website.