If You Reuse Passwords, the alkotestery.ru Leak Should Worry You

HEROIC analysts identified a combolist file named “alkotestery.ru” that was uploaded to a Telegram channel on 10 September 2023. It contains 3,428 records, each pairing an email address with a plaintext password and the URL of the account it belongs to.

Why This Is Dangerous

Every password in this file is stored in plain, readable text rather than encrypted or hashed. That means whoever downloads it can read the credentials directly and start trying them on other websites within minutes, no technical skill or password cracking required.

What Was Exposed

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords
• URLs identifying the site or service tied to each login

Why This Matters

If you reuse the same password across more than one account, a leak like this one is exactly the kind of thing that puts you at risk, even if you never used alkotestery.ru yourself and have never heard of it. Attackers do not need to know where a password came from to use it. They run leaked email and password pairs through automated tools that quietly test them against email providers, banking sites, and social media, a technique known as credential stuffing. One reused password is all it takes for a single leaked record to turn into a full account takeover.

How Combolists Like This Get Built

A combolist is not one hacked database, it is a compiled file of email and password pairs gathered from multiple sources, older breaches, phishing pages, and malware, then combined and shared for anyone looking for working logins. The alkotestery.ru file follows this same pattern, uploaded to Telegram where combolists are traded and redistributed freely.

Check If You Are Affected

The only way to know for certain is to check. HEROIC's free breach scanner searches your email against more than 400 billion breached records, including this combolist, so you can see exactly what has been exposed and change any passwords you have reused elsewhere.