Search Your Email: The cdc.gov Telegram Leak Exposed 2,887 Credentials

A Small Combolist With a Big Warning Sign

In June 2026, HEROIC analysts identified a combolist file circulating on Telegram that exposed 2,887 records tied to email and password combinations, along with the URLs where those credentials were originally used. The file was uploaded by a Telegram user distributing stolen login data in bulk, a common tactic among low level cybercriminals looking to sell or trade access to other people's accounts.

Why This Is Dangerous

The passwords in this combolist were stored and shared in plaintext, meaning anyone who downloads the file can read every password exactly as it was typed by the account owner. Combined with the matching email addresses and URLs, an attacker has a ready made list of usernames, passwords, and the exact websites to try them on. There is no decryption needed and no guesswork involved.

What Was Exposed

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords
• URLs linked to the accounts

Why This Matters

Even a small leak like this one can cause outsized damage. Attackers routinely take combolists like this and run them through automated tools that test the same email and password pair across dozens of other websites, a technique known as credential stuffing. If any of the 2,887 people in this file reused a password on their email, banking, or social media accounts, those accounts are now at risk of takeover. From there, the door opens to identity theft and financial fraud.

How Combolists Work

A combolist is simply a text file that combines usernames or emails with their matching passwords, often pulled together from multiple older breaches or stealer logs and repackaged into one list. Criminals trade these files on Telegram and dark web forums because they are easy to distribute and easy to use. Unlike a raw database dump, a combolist strips away extra details and leaves only what an attacker actually needs to log in.

Check If You Are Affected

You do not need to guess whether your email address or password showed up in this leak or any of the thousands of others like it. HEROIC's free breach scanner checks your email against a database of more than 400 billion leaked records, including combolists just like this one, so you can find out in seconds and take action before someone else uses your login against you.