Russian data breach coincides with big security conference

By Elizabeth Weise

It’s never good when news breaks that a Russian crime ring has amassed a cache of 1.2 billion username and password combinations.

But security experts say that situation isn’t quite as dire as it might sound.

The breach was discovered by Hold Security in Milwaukee. The company released the information to the New York Times Tuesday.

Tuesday — not coincidentally, some say — was also the opening of Black Hat, a popular computer security conference held in Las Vegas each August. It is followed by DefCon, a more hacker oriented conference. (Read more)