Security researchers revealed at RSAC today announced they have discovered a chest of 809 million personal records exposed on the web. This time more than simply emails and passwords were exposed– data also includes physical addresses, personal home loan details, social media accounts, and credit rating analysis.

The database was owned by “email recognition” company Verifications.io, and has been taken offline by the company.

From WIRED News:

Last week, security researchers Bob Diachenko and Vinny Troia discovered a vulnerable, openly available MongoDB database consisting of 150 gigabytes-worth of detailed, plaintext marketing data– consisting of 763 million distinct e-mail addresses. The set are going public with their findings today The chest is not just huge however likewise unusual; it contains data about individual consumers in addition to what seems “service intelligence information,” like staff member and income figures from various companies. This variety may come from the info’s source. The database, owned by the “email validation” firm Verifications.io, was taken offline the same day Diachenko reported it to the business.

While you’ve most likely never ever become aware of them, validators play a crucial role in the email marketing industry. They don’t send out marketing emails by themselves behalf, or assist in automatic mass email projects. Instead, they veterinarian a consumer’s newsletter to ensure that the e-mail addresses in it are legitimate and won’t bounce back. Some email marketing companies offer this system in-house. But completely confirming that an email address works involves sending out a message to the address and verifying that it was provided– basically spamming individuals. That indicates evading protections of web service suppliers and platforms like Gmail. (There are less invasive methods to confirm email addresses, but they have a tradeoff of incorrect positives.) Mainstream email marketing firms often outsource this work instead of take on the risk of having their infrastructure blacklisted by spam filters, or lowering their online reputation ratings.

Here’s a link to the report by security scientists Bob Diachenko and Vinny Troia