Russian internet giant Rambler.ru hacked, leaking 98 million accounts

Russian internet portal and email provider Rambler.ru has become the latest victim in a growing list of historical hacks.

Breach notification site LeakedSource.com, which obtained a copy of an internal customer database, said the attack dates back to February 17, 2012.

More than 98.1 million accounts were in the database, including usernames, email addresses, social account data, and passwords, the group said in a blog post. Unlike other major breaches, those passwords were stored in unencrypted plaintext, meaning anyone at the company could easily see passwords.

The last time a breach on this scale was found using plaintext password storage was Russian social networking site VK.com, which saw 171 million accounts taken in the breach.

Rambler.ru now joins the hacked ranks of LinkedIn and Last.fm in 2012, and MySpace and Tumblr in 2013.

LeakedSource said it had verified the breach, and has added the cache into its searchable database.

Rambler.ru is one of the largest websites in the world, and one of the most visited in Russia. Founded in 1996, the company provides search, news, email, and advertising, making it a powerhouse of the Russian internet. The company competes with Yandex, and Mail.ru (which also owns VK.com) which made headlines for a second time this year for suffering at the hands of hackers again.

We reached out to Rambler.ru prior to publication, but did not hear back. If that changes, we'll update the piece.

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