Russian Hackers Amass over a Billion Internet Passwords by Joelle Gnikpingo, 2nd Period

A Russian crime ring gathered the largest collection of stolen internet credentials, which include 1.2 billion username and password combinations and over 500 million email addresses. Hold Security, a firm in Wisconsin, showed that the records had confidential material like household names.

There is worry in the security community that keeping personal information of thieves' hands was not working. 40 million credit cards and 70 million addresses and phone numbers were stolen from Target by hackers in Eastern Europe in December. An identity theft service in Vietnam got 200 million personal records like Social Security numbers. Hold Security is urging security experts to call for improved identity protection on the web.

Analysis:
When the Cold War was taking place, there were hackers in the U.S. trying to prevent the spread of communism, hacking people's phone calls and their computers. Both sides were also trying to one-up each other on technological advancements.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/technology/russian-gang-said-to-amass-more-than-a-billion-stolen-internet-credentials.html