CRTO & RNG Look Good Despite Software & Services Weakness

The Internet-Software & Services industry is highly correlated to the economy; consequently, estimates are moving down as tariffs, inflation and interest rate decisions increase economic uncertainty. The industry appears to be in cost-saving mode as operating expenses are coming down to generate profit despite revenue softness. Capital investments are also being limited, barring a couple of companies. In this background, companies like Criteo (CRTO) and RingCentral (RNG) are shining through for a number of reasons. First, they are leveraging AI, which is translating to revenue growth and helping offset the ongoing economic weakness. Second, they have developed systems of client retention through subscriptions and platforms. Being the backbone of the digital economy, it's hard to see this industry doing badly over the long term. The diversity of players in this group leads to some dissonance. Valuations have been improving since April.
About the Industry
The Internet Software & Services industry is relatively small, primarily involved in enabling platforms, networks, solutions and services for online businesses, and facilitating customer interaction and use of Internet based services.
Top Themes Driving the Industry
The level of technology adoption by businesses impacts growth. While some companies have already built platforms facilitating the development and use of artificial intelligence, others are scrambling to catch up in order to stay competitive. This is further accelerating the adoption of technology that can help collect and analyze data, whether on company premises or in the cloud. Additionally, today we have many more cloud-first companies than ever before. Therefore, there is steadily increasing demand for software and services delivered through the Internet.
Despite recent rate cuts, the economy continues to slow down, which isn't good news for an industry that thrives on strong economic growth. No matter what the other variables – and there are many, considering the motley crowd that makes up this group – an economic slowdown always leads customers to make do with less, i.e. reduce expenditures on software and services. Additionally, geopolitical tensions in Europe and the Middle East have a bearing on oil prices and supply chains, and therefore, contribute to the volatility and uncertainty within the economies. The decision of the U.S. government to first impose tariffs and then alleviate them, along with its trading partners' retaliatory tariffs, adds further complexity to the operating environment. This means that the outlook for 2025 is a bit cloudy.
Given the colorful international politics and the resultant volatility in international markets, there is notable impact on the performance of each player. The fact that they also serve a very broad spectrum of markets also makes it difficult to predict specific outcomes for the group, as a whole. Players increasingly prefer a subscription-based model, which brings relative stability to their businesses. This works especially well when the companies have critical offerings. The ability to retain subscribers and raise prices as necessary is proving to be the key to success in the current environment.
The higher volume of business being operated through the cloud and the increasing demand for enabling software and services involves infrastructure buildout, which increases costs for players. This causes great fluctuations in profitability as new infrastructure is depreciated and fresh debt is serviced. So even for those players that see revenue growth accelerate, profitability is often a challenge. That said, most of the companies in this industry have been working down debt over the last few years with a positive impact on results.
Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Limited Prospects
The Zacks Internet – Software & Services industry is housed within the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #203, which places it in the bottom 17% of nearly 250 Zacks classified industries.
The group's Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates that the growth prospects are deteriorating. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
The aggregate estimate revision trend warrants some caution. That is because the estimates for both fiscal years 2025 and 2026 have moved around quite a bit and have now taken a downward turn. The 2025 estimate was more or less steady through July 2024 before dipping in August. It picked up again through December before dropping back down thereafter. The 2026 estimate was also relatively steady through July, dropping sharply in August and picking up again from October before dropping sharply again this month. Net-net, the 2025 estimate is down 23.7% over the past year while he 2026 estimate is down 21.2%.
Before we present a few stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let's take a look at the industry's recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.
Industry's Stock Market Performance Is Strong
The Zacks Internet – Software & Services Industry lagged both the broader Zacks Computer and Technology Sector and the S&P 500 through most of 2024, reversing the trend this year.
Overall, the industry returned 20.5% over the past year compared with the broader sector's return of 11.7% and the S&P 500's 11.0%.
One-Year Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Industry Is Somewhat Overvalued
On the basis of forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, we see that the industry is currently trading at a 24.96X multiple, which is a 15.2% premium to the S&P 500 and a 2.2% discount to the technology sector. Technology stocks usually trade at a higher multiple because investors pay a higher premium for innovation. In this case, it is also worth noting that the industry is trading at its highest multiple over the past year.
The industry has traded in the range of 16.95X to 24.96X and a median level of 19.14X over the past year, as the chart below shows.
Forward 12 Month Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
2 Stocks Worth Considering
Criteo S.A. (CRTO): Paris-based Criteo S.A. provides a commerce media platform delivering marketing and monetization services in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Its unified, AI-driven platform directly connects advertisers with retailers and publishers to drive commerce on retailer sites and on the open Internet.
The company's strategy is to harness AI to expand its reach across audiences, seeking to expand its ecosystem across advertisers, retailers and third-party platforms, using the commerce dataset to feed its AI models.
As advertiser budgets are sensitive to macroeconomic factors like the geopolitical conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as things like inflation and interest rates back home, this market hasn't done exceptionally well in the past year. However, Criteo was able to leverage its Retail Media platform to offset some of this softness.
Despite the loss of a large customer that is expected to hurt results from the fourth quarter of 2025, the company has a depth of offerings to continue to add many more. Existing customer spending soared in the last quarter, with ex-TAC (traffic acquisition costs) same retailer contribution retention at 120%.
As brands and retailers continue to onboard its platform, networking effects kick in, helping results. Its client retention remained close to 90% in the last quarter. Overall Retail Media ex-TAC contribution growth was 18%. Performance media ex-TAC contribution growth was a more sedate 4%, helped by growing strength in its AI-powered commerce solution.
Shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have lost 20.5% over the past year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is down -12 cents (2.7%) in the last 30 days. The 2026 earnings estimate is down -37 cents (7.7%). Analysts expect sales to increase +2.4% this year with earnings declining -3.9%. Earnings are currently expected to grow +0.9% the following year on the back of +2.7% revenue growth.
Price and Consensus: CRTO
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
RingCentral Inc. (RNG): Belmont, CA-based RingCentral's AI-powered product portfolio includes the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), Video & Events, and RingSense AI solutions. Its success is as much a function of its innovative communications and collaboration solutions as its diverse range of strategic partners, global service providers, channel partners and third-party developers.
The company's new AI-based solutions are doing extremely well and management has said that in the last quarter, average recurring revenue ARR exceeded $2.5 billion. The newly-launched AI receptionist (AIR) operates as a digital phone assistant, automatically recording key details on calls, including decisions and action items; and generates context aware chat messages in real time, as well as context-based SMS. There are already 1000 activated customers on AIR. Other highlights of the quarter included its integration into the Salesforce CRM ecosystem and big customer wins such as Cox Communications and Altafiber (previously Cincinnati Bell).
Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have lost 26.5% over the past year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 is level with the estimate 30 days ago while the 2026 earnings estimate is down 3 cents. Analysts are looking for revenue growth of 4.6% in 2025 and 5.8% in 2026, with earnings expected to grow a respective 13.5% and 11.2%.
Price and Consensus: RNG
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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CNET

an hour ago

• CNET

You're Buying Your Internet Wrong: Avoid These Top 10 Mistakes To Save Money

You don't need to be a genius to pick out a good internet plan, but you do have to do a little research. Important information is often buried in the terms of service beneath marketing and industry-speak. I've spent hours reading through internet service provider offerings -- and the customer service reviews about those offerings. It's boring, but the key to getting a decent internet deal -- one that saves you money and comes with enough speed -- is reading the fine print. If you share the sentiments of thousands of Americans who hate their internet service providers, you're probably not thrilled about the prospect of sifting through ISP promotional offers for hours. When the time comes to shop for home internet, it can be tempting to just buy whatever convenient internet plan your friends and neighbors are using and move on with your life. While our internet options are sorely limited depending on where we live, keep in mind that you'll have to live with the internet plan you pick. If it's too slow, you'll be picking up the phone in a few months to call customer service again. If you're getting lured into a plan with hidden fees and promo pricing, you might find your bill doubling after a year or a few months have passed. We rely on the internet for nearly everything these days. With fears of a looming recession and prices rising due to tariffs, it's crucial to find ways to save a little money on such an essential service. Here's my fool-proof method for finding the best internet plan for you. 10 common mistakes made when picking internet plans A little patience and some reading will go a long way with buying an internet plan -- but there are some specific aspects of the plan to look out for. Before you even start shopping, you should have a good idea of how much speed you'll need and your budget. Locating local internet providers ISPs often use flashy advertising or marketing to distract you from the hidden fees or price increases in your internet bill. You don't need a computer science degree to make sense of the internet plan you're paying for. Often, the clues to what your internet service bill will look like and the plan's speed are right in front of you, albeit engulfed in jargon; you just need to know what to look for. Here are the top 10 mistakes I've noticed people making when picking out an internet plan: We'll go over each of these in depth below so that when it comes to finding a good internet service provider, you'll be a pro. 1. Paying for internet speeds you don't need Getty Images Internet is already expensive once you factor in the equipment fees and hidden fees (more on those later). Don't overpay for internet speeds that you just won't use. And don't settle for a low tier only to go crawling back to customer support for an upgrade to a higher tier later. The easiest way to avoid that strife is to take stock of how much internet speed your household is actually using before you begin shopping for a new plan. To start, count the number of gadgets and smart home devices in your home. Smart devices can be sneaky bandwidth hogs, often overlooked when considering internet usage. If you have more than 10 devices online concurrently during a typical day, with internet usage involving more than just browsing the web, a good rule of thumb is to stick to speeds of 500 megabits per second or higher. If you only have one or two devices on during the day and only one or two internet users working remotely, browsing the web, streaming or gaming at a time, you should be safe with 150 to 300Mbps. Since I work remotely and typically only use two devices simultaneously, AT&T Fiber's cheapest 300Mbps tier works just fine for me. If you've experienced excessive lag, buffering and Wi-Fi issues with your current tier, it might be time to size up. Your Wi-Fi setup could be to blame for your internet connectivity issues, so run down the list of possible solutions before upgrading. Advertised vs. actual speeds On that note, keep in mind that what your ISP is advertising as a maximum speed (in my case, 300Mbps), may not be the actual speeds you'll get consistently. Your actual speeds will likely be much slower -- especially if you're relying on Wi-Fi and connecting multiple devices to your network. Even 1,000Mbps tiers may face congestion and slowdowns, as CNET's Trisha Jandoc discovered in her home. When looking for a reliable internet plan, make sure you're taking a holistic look at your speed usage and factoring in slowdowns you may experience depending on the number of devices, the type of internet users in the house and the internet connection type. 2. Not considering the internet connection type Did you know there's more than one type of internet connection? You may have multiple internet connection types at your address; evaluate them all instead of opting for whatever is most convenient. Here's a quick rundown: Fiber internet : Typically considered the gold standard of broadband, fiber internet can deliver symmetrical upload and download speeds -- a feat no other internet connection type can boast of yet. You may be eligible for fiber internet at an address previously only serviceable for cable, so it's worth asking your landlord or calling a fiber provider to see if you can get fiber. : Typically considered the gold standard of broadband, fiber internet can deliver symmetrical upload and download speeds -- a feat no other internet connection type can boast of yet. You may be eligible for fiber internet at an address previously only serviceable for cable, so it's worth asking your landlord or calling a fiber provider to see if you can get fiber. Cable internet : Since fiber internet is much less available than cable internet, you're much more likely to be serviceable for cable instead of fiber. Cable is a decent second-best option, with speeds that can reach multi-gig levels (though upload speeds remain sorely lacking). : Since fiber internet is much less available than cable internet, you're much more likely to be serviceable for cable instead of fiber. Cable is a decent second-best option, with speeds that can reach multi-gig levels (though upload speeds remain sorely lacking). 5G or fixed wireless internet : If you can't get either fiber or cable, consider 5G internet. Wireless internet is becoming increasingly popular, and Verizon 5G and T-Mobile Home Internet have dominated the space in recent years. Verizon's 5G home internet plans claim to offer speeds up to 1,000Mbps and T-Mobile just boosted its speeds and added a new speed tier. : If you can't get either fiber or cable, consider 5G internet. Wireless internet is becoming increasingly popular, and Verizon 5G and T-Mobile Home Internet have dominated the space in recent years. Verizon's 5G home internet plans claim to offer speeds up to 1,000Mbps and T-Mobile just boosted its speeds and added a new speed tier. Satellite internet: With nearly 100% availability, satellite internet is a safe bet for rural communities or those on the go, but it tends to be high in costs and is prone to network congestion. Unless you don't have another option, consider satellite and DSL internet a last resort. 3. Falling for promotional pricing and flashy advertising A recent CNET survey found that 63% of adults are paying more for their internet than they paid last year. Internet providers are profit-motivated first. If you stumble upon a cheap internet plan or deal that seems too good to be true, it probably is. Plus, if you decide to call before you do some research, your customer service representative will probably try to talk you into either upgrading to a faster (more expensive) plan or adding some services you simply don't need. Xfinity's FCC-mandated broadband nutrition label displays the "post-introductory price" after one year of service: the monthly cost jumps from $55 to $89. Screenshot by Cierra Noffke/CNET Pricing traps and promotional bait are popular among ISPs. Always read the fine print -- especially before you call. If you're not careful, you could be roped into a two-year contract, with your bill increasing exponentially in the next year. Cable providers Xfinity, Astound and Spectrum are notorious for price increases that can range from $20 to $30 more after a promotional period. In the case of Xfinity, your bill might double after the first year, unless you sign up for a price-lock. If you closely examine the FCC-mandated broadband nutrition labels, you can see what your monthly bill will look like after the promo period ends. 4. Not reading the fine print to look for contracts, hidden fees or data caps OK, I know it's boring and arguably the worst part about picking a good internet plan, but reading through the terms of service is the best way to figure out what the internet plan you're looking at actually entails. Consult your ISP's broadband nutrition labels for basic facts and read their full terms of service for any follow-up issues you uncover. If you still have outstanding questions, write them down and make sure you ask them when you call. First, make sure you're not signing up for a contract unless you have no other option. Contracts require you to stick with an internet service for the entire term. If you decide your internet plan isn't working for you halfway through, you'll either suffer for the next six months or pay a hefty termination fee. Screenshot of Sparklight's broadband nutrition labels across three plans. Notice how Sparklight describes the data included with each plan as "Unlimited." If you read the fine print, you'll find it actually enforces a soft cap of 5TB. Screenshot/CNET Next, make sure you're checking for data caps. The broadband nutrition label should indicate any data caps, but sometimes, ISPs won't use the broadband labels to clearly state whether they're enforcing a data cap (looking at you, Sparklight), so you'll have to read through the fine print. Also, sometimes ISPs enforce "soft caps" or use "priority data," which means your internet speeds will be throttled once you max out your allotted data. Lastly, are there any hidden fees or junk fees you should worry about? That promotional price of $30 a year for 150Mbps may seem attractive initially, but if your provider leases equipment for an additional $15 and enforces a maintenance fee of $12 monthly, you're looking at $57 monthly. In some cases, you may be able to call and negotiate with your ISP to waive a few of those fees. If you're trying to cut back on initial internet costs, consider installing your internet yourself. 5. Not calculating the cost per Mbps The cost per Mbps is a great way to gauge how good of a deal your internet plan is. Internet prices fluctuate depending on the internet connection type, regional pricing or related market issues. The cost per Mbps is the ratio between the monthly rate (excluding taxes and extra fees) and the advertised speeds -- or the price you're paying for 1Mbps of speed. You can find the cost per Mbps by dividing the monthly rate by the plan's max speed. A good rule of thumb is to stick to a cost per Mbps between 10 and 25 cents or lower -- if you can. Anything lower than 10 cents per Mbps is usually a good deal. I'll caution that the high speeds of fiber internet plans can make using the cost per Mbps approach confusing. For example, AT&T's fastest tier of 5,000Mbps costs $245 a month. That's a hefty price for a lot of speed. The cost per Mbps of that plan comes out to 5 cents, which is pretty good by broadband standards but an unrealistic monthly rate for home internet. If you're thinking of picking a plan with promotional pricing, compare the cost per Mbps for both the introductory and post-introductory rates. Spectrum's $50 for 500Mbps plan comes out to a decent 10 cents per Mbps, but if you stick with that plan for a year, your monthly rate will jump to $80, which is a much higher 16 cents per Mbps. In that case, consider shopping around after your promo period ends. 6. Not comparing internet plans or reading customer reviews I know, I know, I've already asked you to read the terms of service for one ISP, and now I'm asking you to cross-analyze the offerings from multiple ISPs. It's tedious work but the only way to ensure you're getting the best deal is to carefully read and compare the terms of service of all the ISPs in your area. Now that you know what to look for, you can compare the cost per Mbps and terms of service across different ISP plans. If you're one of the lucky few who can choose between more than one or two decent internet providers, you should choose carefully. The terms of service will give you a good sense of what to expect from your internet plan but those words are written from an ISP perspective. You should always take customer reviews with a grain of salt but they're usually an honest portrayal of how those service terms actually play out. For example, if people express consistent confusion about price hikes, consider that a red flag about promotional pricing traps. You can turn to resources like Reddit for city-specific threads about ISPs or the Better Business Bureau for a closer look at what people didn't like about their service. 7. Ignoring tech support and security We usually don't think about our internet until something starts going wrong. Like most internet shoppers, you're probably not planning for connectivity issues and if you pick a good ISP and speed, hopefully, you won't have to deal with those issues. But internet connectivity problems are inevitable, whether it's a problem with your equipment, your Wi-Fi setup, outages your provider is experiencing or more significant problems beyond your control. If you can choose between a good ISP without free tech support and a good ISP with free tech support, opt for the support. You'll never know when you'll have to make a phone call to troubleshoot your connection or your equipment. 8. Not buying your own routerBefore I started writing about home internet, I never considered my router and I couldn't tell you the difference between a modem and a router. But now I know that it can save you money to buy your equipment upfront instead of paying an extra $10 to your ISP every month. Most routers cost $200 or less, which will pay for itself in a little more than a year. Plus, you won't have to worry about racing to return your equipment when your plan ends. There's also a chance your router can offer better performance than the one your ISP offers. CNET's Joe Supan saved nearly $1,000 by buying his own router instead of renting from Xfinity and he noticed improved upload speeds after doing so. Just note that if you buy your own router, you likely won't be eligible for tech assistance from your ISP anymore, and they may even try to blame your internet connectivity issues on your router. Most router manufacturers -- notably TP-Link, Netgear, and Linksys -- offer their own customer service support anyway. 9. Not looking at mobile bundle discounts (or other deals) The best home internet discounts typically come from bundling with your ISP's mobile service. Switching over your mobile service provider can be a hassle if you don't already get service from the same company but you could save as much as $35 each month on internet by doing so. Astound and Mediacom offer some of the best mobile discount opportunities but you may have other options, too. ISPs often try to lure customers with low pricing or other add-ons, and while some deals aren't worth signing up for, others, like T-Mobile's $300 gift card and Frontier Fiber's $30 plan for 500Mbps, are worth a try. 10. Not thinking twice about your router placement Last but not least, after you've done your research and committed to a plan, you'll have to pick a date for installation. Most people trust that the technicians who install their equipment will pick the best place in the house, but that's not always the case. Wi-Fi works best with an optimized setup. If you can place your router/modem in a central spot in the house, closest to where you're working or where your most used TV is located, work with your technician to make that happen. You can always invest in some Wi-Fi extenders or a mesh network if you think the connectivity will be an issue but don't assume your technician knows what's best. After all, this is your internet plan, and you'll be using it every day. FAQs Should I rent or buy my modem or router? It may seem daunting to buy your own router, but the decision could save you money in the long run. Most routers cost around $200, which should pay for itself after a year since many ISPs charge $10 to $15 for equipment rental. If you buy your own router, your ISP won't be able to offer tech support if there's an issue with the equipment, but router manufacturers often come with their own tech support anyway. Plus, newer routers often perform better than the routers ISPs rent out -- CNET broadband writer Joe Supan bought his own router (which saved him nearly $1,000), and he saw improved upload speeds with his cable internet.

Gizmodo

8 hours ago

• Gizmodo

What We Know So Far About the Supposed ‘Mother of All Data Breaches'

Data breaches are so common these days that, when a new one gets announced, most web users can do little more than yawn and mutter something like 'Yeah, no shit' before scrolling up to the next story in their newsfeed. This week, however, a breach was announced that was allegedly so earth-shatteringly huge that it managed to break through the internet's wall of collective cynicism. Dubbed the 'Mother of All Data Breaches,' the breach is said to involve some 16 billion user credentials, and impact a vast number of accounts on platforms like Facebook, Google, and Apple. The breach was initially reported by Cyber News, a site that focuses on web security, and was written by the site's deputy editor and researcher, Vilius Petkauskas. The story, published Wednesday, claims that the breach represents 'one of the largest data breaches in history.' Petkauskas's article describes the discovered breach as 'a plethora of supermassive datasets, housing billions upon billions of login credentials' that have been sourced from 'social media and corporate platforms to VPNs and developer portals.' This data is sourced from '30 exposed datasets' that researchers say contains 'tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each.' Researchers say they were able to discover the exposed datasets due to insecure online protections, though they say the exposure was too short-lived for them to figure out who was 'controlling' the data. 'This is not just a leak – it's a blueprint for mass exploitation,' said researchers interviewed by the site. 'With over 16 billion login records exposed, cybercriminals now have unprecedented access to personal credentials that can be used for account takeover, identity theft, and highly targeted phishing.' Cyber News's story was picked up by a number of mainstream outlets, including Forbes and Axios. However, no sooner had the news begun to circulate the internet than security professionals began to call the article's claims into question. According to critics, Cyber News isn't wrong per se about the number of credentials that have been exposed—and that's horrifying enough news on its own. However, some watchers maintain that this isn't a new breach (nor is it really a breach in the traditional sense), it's just data from a bunch of old breaches that have been stapled together and posted online. 'To be clear, this is not a new data breach, or a breach at all, and the websites involved were not recently compromised to steal these credentials,' writes Bleeping Computer. Meanwhile, vx-underground, an informational website that posts about malware samples found around the web, tweeted about the story, characterizing it as a 'fear mongering 16,000,000,000 password repackage password leak thingy which scared the normies and spread misinformation.' Unfortunately, large breaches happen all the time and, due to the way that the cybercriminal underworld is structured around the sharing of stolen data, data from many of these breaches is traded and re-traded across websites. Sometimes, collectors of that information will compile very large dossiers of those breaches and post it as something new—which is what researchers are claiming happened here. That said, Cyber News's story seems to contradict the claims being made by security researchers somewhat. It says that the data that has been uncovered is 'recent' and 'not merely recycled from old breaches.' The Cyber News story also now includes a disclaimer that says: 'This story, based on unique Cybernews findings and originally published on the website on June 18, is constantly being updated with clarifications and additional information in response to public discourse.' Gizmodo reached out to Cyber News for comment. The breach is still interesting for how it highlights the danger of one particular tool in the dark web cretin's toolkit, which is a malware appropriately known as the 'infostealer.' The infostealer—just as it sounds—is software that, once having infected a device, will suck out login credentials that have been saved in the computer's browser. A very effective tool, cybercriminals can use the automated tools to swiftly compile large lists of personal information that can be used for compromise operations down the road. Regardless of whether this involves freshly leaked credentials or not, it might be a good time to freshen up your logins. Hackers' jobs are getting easier by the day.

CBS News

a day ago

• CBS News

16 billion login credentials from Google and other sites leaked online, report says

Sixteen billion login credentials have been leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals "unprecedented access" to accounts consumers use each day, according to researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews. According to a report published this week, Cybernews researchers have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of login information — amounting to a total of 16 billion compromised credentials. That includes user passwords for a range of popular platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple. Because 16 billion is roughly double the amount of people on Earth today, the number signals 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 stem 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 so-called "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. The report comes amid a recent wave of cybersecurity attacks, which have grown more advanced in recent years. Two insurers, Erie Insurance and Philadelphia Insurance Companies, announced that their networks were hacked earlier this month. On Friday, Aflac said hackers gained access to its customers' personal information in a cybersecurity attack last week. Experts worry the situation may only get worse, CBS News' 60 Minutes recently reported. Experts call for "cyber hygiene" 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 maintaining key "cyber hygiene." If you're worried about your account data potentially being exposed in a recent breach, the first thing you can do 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 password manager or passkey. And also add multifactor authentication, which can serve as a second layer of verification through your phone, email or USB authenticator key.