The Yahoo 02.09 Leak Exposed 135,877 Email-Password Pairs

On February 7, 2023, HEROIC analysts identified a combolist circulating on Telegram under the file name "Yahoo 02.09," uploaded by an individual user. The file contained 135,877 records pairing an email address with a plaintext password and the URL each login was used on. Why This Is Dangerous: The passwords in this file were stored in plaintext, meaning anyone who downloads the list can read every password exactly as typed, with no decryption required. Combined with the matching email address and login URL, an attacker has everything needed to log straight into an account without guessing or cracking anything. What Was Exposed: The file contains email addresses, plaintext passwords, and the URLs each login was tied to. Why This Matters: Most people reuse the same password across several accounts, including email, banking, and shopping sites. Criminals run automated credential stuffing attacks, testing each pair against dozens of other services at once, so if your credentials here match a password you still use anywhere else, that account is at risk of takeover, identity theft, and financial fraud. How This Combolist Was Likely Built: Files like this are rarely the product of a single hack. They are usually assembled by pulling email and password pairs from older breaches, phishing pages, or malware-infected computers, then shared or sold on Telegram channels for other criminals to use. Check If You're Affected: If you have ever used a Yahoo email address or reused a password across multiple sites, HEROIC's free breach scanner searches more than 400 billion leaked records, including combolists like this one, so you can find out quickly and take action.