Google Gmail Data Breach Leaks 183 Million Passwords (False!)

December 8, 2025 By Nancy William No Comments 6 minutes

Have you heard about one of the largest Google Gmail data breaches exposing millions of passwords? Well, you’re about to, and to cut things short for all who heard about it, it’s not true! This article has been updated to match the latest statement of Google regarding the false reports of a breach.

Earlier this year, there was a major claim of a data breach that exposed more than 184 million passwords and login details, affecting users of platforms such as Facebook, Apple, and Instagram. That breach was made public on May 22. Now, in what may or may not be an eerily timed coincidence, news had surfaced of another Google leak from April 2025 involving 183 million login credentials.

The owner of the “Have I Been Pwned” service, Troy Hunt, has added this new batch of data, including website URLs, email addresses, and passwords, to its database. He explained that the information is a mix of “stealer logs” (data taken by info-stealing malware) and “credential stuffing lists” (precompiled login pairs), and that it contains verified Gmail credentials.

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The 183 Million Password Google Gmail Data Breach

In general, if anyone is truly serious and curious about their online security, and mainly whether their data is exposed, “Have I Been Pwned” is one of the best and most trusted tools. With it, many often check whether their personal information has been leaked. This data includes passwords and email addresses.

With that said, it’s evident that when a new entry appears on the site revealing that 183 million accounts were compromised, with both email addresses and passwords stolen, it’s guaranteed to grab everyone’s attention in the cybersecurity sphere. This exact scenario happened with the breach added on October 21st.

While researching this incident, I found a detailed analysis by Troy Hunt that examined the Synthient threat data provided to his service.

In a related blog post, Benjamin Brundage of Synthient explained that this massive collection of login credentials was gathered over nearly a year by monitoring the activity of information-stealing malware platforms.

According to Troy Hunt (Security Expert)

Security expert Troy Hunt recently analyzed a massive data dump collected from information-stealing malware. The sheer scale was staggering—23 billion individual login records, totaling 3.5 terabytes of stolen information.

He explained that these “stealer logs” are essentially digital pickpocket records. When someone’s computer is infected, the malware quietly captures a simple, devastating trio every time they log into a site: the website address, their email, and the password they just typed.

As Hunt noted, a person logging into Gmail would have their email and password recorded next to “gmail.com.”

Before making this data searchable, Hunt’s first priority was to check its freshness. In the criminal underworld, old login lists are constantly recycled and resold. He needed to determine if this was a new haul or just a repackaged collection of old breaches.

To understand what was truly new, a deep dive into a sample of 94,000 records revealed that an overwhelming 92% of them were already known from previous security breaches. The majority of these recycled credentials were traced back to a specific source. This was known as the “ALIEN TXTBASE” stealer logs.

But that small remaining percentage paints a more urgent picture. While 92% were old, the other 8% represented brand-new, never-before-seen login information. When you scale that 8% up to the full 3.5-terabyte dataset, it translates to a staggering 14 million fresh sets of credentials that criminals could use.

In the final count, the number was even higher. The analysis ultimately uncovered 16.4 million unique email addresses that had never appeared in any known data breach, making this a significant new threat for millions of people.

Google Issues a Statement on False Accountability of Exposed Gmail Passwords

There is a viral rumor spreading that 183 million Gmail accounts were hacked. However, there was no solid proof of these claims, and that’s when Google just stepped in to publicly set the record straight.

The company has taken to social media to correct this widespread misunderstanding, stressing that the reports are inaccurate.

As my original article details, this situation is not a breach of Google’s systems. To help clear up the confusion, I’m sharing Google’s full official statement below. My hope is that having their words directly will provide the clarity needed to end the misinformation.

Let’s clear up this misinformation. Those alarming headlines about a “massive Google Gmail data breach” simply aren’t true. Your Gmail account remains secure behind its solid defenses.

But how did the confusion start?

The confusion started when people saw large collections of stolen login details online and mistakenly thought hackers had broken into Google itself.

In reality, these are just compiled lists from “info-stealer” malware that has been secretly capturing passwords from computers across the internet for years. This isn’t a new, targeted attack on Gmail.

Google’s Two-Step Verifications and Other Security Measures

The good news is you have powerful tools to protect yourself. For the best security measures, you should always enable two-step verification on your account. Even better, switch to using passkeys instead of passwords where possible.

And if you hear about a big batch of leaked passwords, that’s always a good prompt to change yours. When Google spots these large lists of exposed credentials, it proactively helps users reset their passwords and secure their accounts.

How to Prevent a Google Data Breach Today 2025

Even though the news turned out to be false accusations, it’s still important that you practice preventative security measures for the future. Here are a few tips on what Google recommends:

Always ensure that your Gmail passwords are updated regularly. Even if you don’t update them every two months or so, always ensure that the password you created is strong, long, contain numbers, upper and lower case letters, symbols, etc.
Two-factor authentication is important. The best results of authentication are often with passkeys instead of passwords.
Never reply to or adhere to any messages or calls from Google services; they would never repeatedly reach out this way. In short, avoid unsolicited messages at all costs.
Utilize the Google Security Checkup feature to strengthen online security. It helps you review all connected apps or devices. Check to see if anything is out of the ordinary.
Use biometric and passkey logins. Google has recommended these as some of the best and most secure sign-in methods. Plus, it helps prevent hacking, stolen data, or phishing scams.

FAQs – Google Gmail Data Breach

What is the Google Gmail data breach warning about?

The Google Gmail data breach warning has nothing to do with your account passwords or credentials being compromised. The warning is an alert about the countless increases in social engineering and targeted phishing attacks. It’s also an alert to warn people about the ShinyHunters hacker group that targeted Google’s business contact information via the Salesforce database. This database was used by Google.

Was there any Google Gmail data breach 2025?

As of now, there has been no such Google or Gmail breach in 2025. However, there have been other third-party incidents that took place this year regarding the Infostealer malware intrusions.

As of now, there has been no such Google or Gmail breach in 2025. However, there have been other third-party incidents that took place this year regarding the infostealer malware intrusions.

To avoid any privacy leaks, always consider using strong and unique passwords, update your security settings to ensure the privacy options are set to maximum, and use security software like a VPN and password manager.

Can my Gmail password be hacked?

Yes, it can be hacked. There are various methods that can be used to conduct a Gmail hack, such as phishing scams, data breaches, malware intrusions, and more. Even though Google comes with strong security measures, there are still other means of getting an email account or password hacked.

How do I know if the Google security alert is real?

To verify that it’s a real Google security alert, you need to check if the email comes from [email protected]. Next, check go to the “Recent security activity” to ensure that the alert you received matches the one listed there. Always understand that if an alert is authentic, it’ll appear in your account history.

What is Have I been Pwned?

It is a free service available online to the public, allowing you to cross-check if there is any personal data exposed in data breaches.

To Conclude

You now know that the Google Gmail data breach of millions of passwords wasn’t actually true. However, it’s important to note that these kinds of attacks are inevitable. Even though Google’s defence systems are one of the strongest, it doesn’t mean that your data is 100% secure online. It’s always best that you incorporate or educate yourself on a few key security measures to prevent attacks. In addition to these, use security software such as the best VPN and a password manager.