The file was left entirely unprotected - no encryption, no password, no safeguards - just a plain text document holding millions of sensitive data entries.

Cybernews also claims that the 16 billion number is possibly inflated due to leaks coming from multiple data sets, which means there could be many duplicate records.

The leaked login credentials spanned 30 databases, many of which contained recent, structured data harvested by infostealer malware. "This is not just a leak – it's a blueprint for mass exploitation," said Cybernews researchers.