In June 2025, cybersecurity researchers uncovered what would become known as the largest credential compilation breach in history: 16 billion login credentials exposed in a single data dump. This wasn't a breach of one company—it was an aggregation of years of data breaches, compiled and made available to cybercriminals worldwide.
What Happened?
The credential compilation, dubbed "BreachForums Mega Collection," aggregated login data from hundreds of previous breaches spanning from 2012 to 2025. This means even if your company hasn't been directly breached, your employees' credentials could still be in this dump if they:
Why This Matters for Your Business
Cybercriminals don't need to hack your company directly. With billions of credentials at their disposal, they can simply try known username/password combinations against your systems—a technique called credential stuffing.
How to Protect Your Organization
Use a credential monitoring service to check if your employees' emails appear in known breaches. Regular monitoring is essential.
For any exposed credentials, immediately force password resets and implement stronger password policies.
Multi-factor authentication stops 99.9% of credential stuffing attacks, even if passwords are compromised.
Set up automated monitoring to detect when employee credentials appear in new breaches.
The Bottom Line
The 16 billion credential leak represents a fundamental shift in cybersecurity. The question is no longer "if" your employees' credentials have been exposed—it's "how many times" and "what are you doing about it?"