How a Telegram Combolist Called Italy 3 Leaked 404,691 Logins

HEROIC analysts found a combolist named Italy 3 that was uploaded to a Telegram channel in January 2023. The file contains 404,691 records pairing email addresses with plaintext passwords, along with the URLs of the sites where each credential was originally used. Why This Is Dangerous: The passwords in this file are stored in plaintext, so anyone who gets a copy can use the email and password pairs immediately, without needing to crack or decode anything. Attackers commonly feed lists like this into automated tools that try each pair across many popular websites in a matter of minutes. What Was Exposed: - Email addresses - Plaintext passwords - URLs tied to each account Why This Matters: If any of these passwords are reused on other accounts, an attacker can use them to break into email, banking, shopping, or social media accounts through credential stuffing. From there, the risks escalate quickly to account takeover, identity theft, and financial fraud. How a Combolist Like Italy 3 Ends Up Online: Combolists like this one are rarely tied to a single named company being hacked. Instead, criminals pull credentials from a mix of older breaches, phishing pages, and malware infections, sort them by theme, in this case a country name, and upload the resulting file to Telegram channels or dark web forums where other criminals can grab it for free or for sale. The name Italy 3 reflects how the seller labeled and marketed the file, not a confirmed single source. Check If You Are Affected: HEROIC's free breach scanner checks your email against a database of more than 400 billion leaked records, including combolists like this one. Run a scan to see if your credentials are part of this exposure and get clear steps to secure your accounts.