It's an aggregation of previous leaks. Malicious actors having all that information together is a big deal in and of itself, but it's not the"mother of all breaches" some publications are trying to make it be.
This, i keep telling people this is just a very sensationalized headline. Some of the companies listed here are definitely from breaches that happened over 5 years ago (ex: myfitnesspal)
Using this dataset in court seems dubious. I think it falls under fruit of the poison tree doctrine but I'm a lawn chair lawyer (ie not a lawyer) at best.
Absolutely, it'll be easy to get full custody as anyone dumb enough to sign up for Adult Friend Finder is objectively too stupid to entrust with unsupervised parenting.
This may sound like sarcasm, but it's not. Honestly, that dataset alone should be used as a starting point for involuntary sterilization.
Good. Unfortunately this is the only way we'll learn to stop giving vital information, or even truthful information, to any and every site that asks for it.
I sympathize with those whose data was leaked but I don't agree that there will ever be sufficient security or protections of privacy.
There's a company which will give you a >40in LCD smart TV to keep, for as long as you want it, with the catch that the second screen that comes with the TV (it's a screen that is a couple of inches tall and spans the width of the device) is on at all times and only plays ads.
There's also a camera that actively films you and records your audio, video. It's also on all the time.
The company makes it clear that they're giving you a free, very well specced TV with all the amenities, and in return they'll collect your data. It's surprising how many people (who otherwise can't afford a TV) said yes.
So one way you can think about it is this. The people who traded thier info for the tv can't sell thier info for anywhere near that value. So they got a good deal.
The reality is that all our info is already out there some where anyway. So these breaches mean very little anymore. It's getting to the point that an contract agreed to where identity is verified by personal info will be easy to challenge in court.
I just assume most people who have a normal online presence have had some form of identity leaked, as well as plenty of people that don’t. Like maybe elderly have credit records breached when Experian got hacked.
Gotta have 2FA, and make sure critical accounts have solid passwords. About all you can do, and no guarantee some shoddy IT in the business holding the account didn’t store all your info unhashed or something.