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Sixteen billion is roughly double the today, signaling that impacted consumers may have had credentials for more than one account leaked. Cybernews notes that there are most certainly duplicates in the data and so “it's impossible to tell how many people or accounts were actually exposed.�

It's also important to note that the leaked login information doesn't span from a single source, such as one breach targeting a company. Instead, it appears that the data was stolen through multiple events over time, and then compiled and briefly exposed publicly, which is when Cybernews reports that its researchers discovered it.

Various infostealers are most likely the culprit, Cybernews noted. Infostealers are a form of malicious software that breaches a victim's device or systems to take sensitive information.

Many questions remain about these leaked credentials, including whose hands the login credentials are in now. But, as data breaches become more and more common in today's world, experts continue to stress the importance of

If you're worried about your account data potentially being exposed in a recent breach, the is change your password — and avoid using the same or similar login credentials on multiple sites. If you find it too hard to memorize all your different passwords, consider a or . And also add multifactor authentication, which can serve as a second layer of verification through your phone, email or USB authenticator key.