5 million Gmail passwords allegedly leaked. Is your account on the list?

Almost 5 million combination of Gmail addresses and passwords were posted online on Russian Bitcoin forum on Tuesday, stuff.cp.nz reported. According to some security experts, the addresses seemed to have been taken from websites that require users to their give Gmail addresses to register.

Most of the passwords leaked seemed to be 'mypassword' while users' actual passwords might be different. However the authenticity of the addresses and passwords could not be confirmed. Many Reddit users said their Gmail addresses were there but their passwords were incorrect.

BGR reports that most of the account information published may be outdated. However, the publisher tvskit uploaded screenshots of the account information leaked insisting that 60% of the passwords were working.

Google issued a statement saying that its accounts are safe and there is nothing to worry about. "The security of users' information is top priority for us. We have no evidence that our systems have been compromised, but whenever we become aware that accounts may have been we take steps to help those users secure  their accounts."

For tighter security of personal email accounts, Google allows for and recommends a two-step verification process linking a user's email account to their personal phone number.

To check if your account is on the list, you can visit isleaked.com. 

This incident follows close on the heels of the leak of personal photos of several high profile celebrities last week which allegedly took place through hacking of their Apple iCloud accounts. Apple denied that there was a leak but added security alerts for its iCloud users.