VALID 2 uploaded by a Telegram User: What Attackers Can Do With It

What HEROIC Analysts Found

HEROIC's dark web monitoring team identified a combolist titled "VALID 2 uploaded by a Telegram User," dated to 29 December 2024. The file contains 898 records pairing email addresses with plaintext passwords, along with the URLs of the sites those credentials were used on. It was shared through a Telegram channel used to trade combolists, with affected individuals located in the United States.

What Attackers Can Do With the VALID 2 Leak

Every password in this file is stored in plaintext, so anyone who downloads it can use the credentials immediately with no cracking required. With only 898 records, an attacker could realistically work through the entire list by hand, testing each email and password pair against the URL it came from and then trying the same combination on other popular sites.

Because the file pairs each login with its original URL, an attacker knows exactly where to start. From there, they can attempt to log into email accounts, shopping sites, or anywhere else the same password might have been reused.

What Was Exposed

• Email addresses
• Plaintext passwords
• URLs associated with each set of login credentials

Why This Matters

Even a modest combolist like this one is useful for credential stuffing, where an attacker automatically tries stolen email and password pairs against other websites. If your password shows up here and you have reused it anywhere else, that other account is now at risk of takeover too.

A single successful login can escalate quickly. A compromised email account can be used to reset passwords elsewhere, opening the door to identity theft and financial fraud.

How Combolists Work

A combolist is a file of email-and-password pairs, usually pulled from earlier breaches or malware infections and then shared or sold on platforms like Telegram. Combolists range widely in size, from massive files with millions of records to smaller, more targeted lists like this one with under 1,000 entries. Regardless of size, the goal is always the same: giving attackers ready-to-use login credentials to try elsewhere.

Check If You Are Affected

The only way to know for certain whether your email and password appear in this combolist is to check. HEROIC's free breach scanner searches more than 400 billion leaked records, including combolists like this one, to tell you whether your information has been exposed. If it has, change that password right away and avoid reusing it anywhere else.