A malware researcher recently uncovered a spamming operation that led to a massive data breach of more than 711 million email addresses.

Paris-based security expert Benkow found an open and accessible web server that was hosted on a spambot in the Netherlands. According to Benkow’s blog post, the server, known as Onliner, has been used to distribute spam and Trojans.

The Onliner web server is home to a range of text files that contain batches of email addresses and passwords. These credentials are the keys to success for the spamming operation, which aims to circumnavigate spam filters by distributing email via authentic servers.

More than 6 billion records were exposed through 2,227 publicly disclosed data breaches in the first half of 2017, according to research from Risk Based Security. The number of records exposed during the first half of this year is already higher than the previous all-time high at the end of 2016.

It’s time to be more careful than ever with your email inbox.

Researchers tell us there are about 6.3 billion email addresses in use (3.7 billion email users and 1.7 accounts on average) so this hack is more than 10% of the total amount in circulation. In other words, there is more than a one-in-ten chance your email address is on the list.

If you use Gmail or a similar service, these tips could help you stay more secure. Companies like Intermedia are doing their best to help as well with new anti-phishing tools.

Technology is only part of the answer. If you aren’t building a cybersecurity culture through frequent live and interactive training, you are setting yourself up to get hit by malware, ransomware or wire transfer attacks which cost businesses, universities and the like millions of dollars. The most recent high profile case of wire-transfer fraud happened a few weeks ago and cost a university eight million dollars!

Be safe, be secure, ensure your workers are trained and you have the right culture of cybersecurity in your organization.

A new breed of hacktrepeneurs has awoken and they have little to fear and everything to gain by infecting as many companies as possible and extorting money from them. Apex Technology Services stands ready to protect your company regardless of whether it’s located in New York City; White Plains, New York; Connecticut; Australia; Europe; or anywhere else. Our full suite of cybersecurity and IT support services is at your disposal, enabling you to spend less time worrying about and more time growing your business.

To ensure your security, consider one of our most popular services — Cybersecurity Training and Auditing & Documentation — which pinpoints vulnerabilities in your infrastructure, process flow and internal security procedures.