The spooky grey area of cybercrime has been an internet blind-spot for many individuals and business alike. In the last twelve years, it has skyrocketed in risk and impact as we migrate our lives into the digital world. After a report released by security researchers on the ‘16 billion passwords data breach’, can we continue like we have always done?
16 billion passwords over various security breaches are the tally from the security research report released in May 2025. Is your password compromised? Do you reuse your password? If unsure, then you are in the right place. Our passwords are the first generation of keys to our digital lives. They also unlock digital intelligence, which others can weaponize against us.
The 16 Billion Passwords Data Breach, and Digital Subversion Collide
Cybersecurity communities are very active regarding the 16 billion passwords data breach, and with good reason. Everyone else seems to be aware from a distance, but may not check their own exposures. I would recommend a great place to start is by checking if your email address is safe from these breaches? You can find out via ‘Have I Been Pwned’.
Also, for your digital life, going into your online accounts and activating multi-factor authentication (e.g. via an Authenticator app on your phone) is a great security addition. It makes life for the hacker more difficult when targeting your account, which today is still a deterrence.
Should they gain access to your account, their follow-on actions will vary depending on who you are, the type of account accessed, etc. One thing that will be consistent is their gathering of data and information about you.
From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows, available at your favorite digital bookstoreÂ
This information will be subject to analysis, packaging and reselling by malicious ‘info-brokers’. A top client for these brokers is digital authoritarians, also known as digital subversion specialists.
Digital Subversion Poisons Social Media
We all know of the infamous ‘far-right’ and their shadow rise from nothing into a powerful digital subversionist force. What we often miss is the business driven collusion by social media platforms who don’t publically disclose bot-accounts in these epic followings.
Equally difficult to identify is how leading social media platforms structure their community guidelines to allow ‘free-speech’ to prevail. This is a veiled pretence, which also allows weaponized false narratives to proliferate, and mainly for business reasons. Elon Musk’s embracement of ‘far-right’ ideology, and associated social media activism, is a notable exception.
Data Breach: A Future of Truth or Assertion
Nobody may order anybody to ‘believe’ in something. It’s as base a right as we have in this world. We can, however, take steps to protect ourselves from malicious influence. We must first recognize the potential for others to misuse our digital information. Protecting our private information on digital accounts is thus a priority.
A newer form of increased security for your digital accounts is passkeys. This ties your digital identity to your physical device. If confident that your device is physically and virtually (i.e. good password) secure, then I would recommend moving your login credentials from passwords to passkeys.
Then, you can securely take the disinformation fight back to our digital attackers as you can learn about their tactics, techniques, and practices. Applying the SIFT method to identify disinformation in the digital world also provides insights into what is behind it. For this effort, the positive impact will stretch far beyond any one user session, as we gain in knowledge, knowhow, and confidence regarding our digital lives.
About the Author
As I move onto my next authoring project, I will post less frequently on the real-world issues linked to my novel, From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows. My next project, Hindsight Station, will be a progression science-fiction webnovel, delivered via Patreon and eventually Royal Road.
John is a versatile author known for his gripping fiction narratives in the thriller, action, and sci-fi genres. With a background as a journalist since 2016, and expertise in cloud technologies as an engineer; John brings a unique blend of storytelling prowess and technical acumen to his work.
