A GARGANTUAN cache of email addresses has been dumped online in what could be the biggest data breach in history.

As many as 2.2billion accounts have been compromised, and there's a good chance you've been caught up in the breach.

With hackers rapidly passing the credentials around on sinister cyber criminal forums, we've summed up how you can protect your accounts below.

What are Collections #1-5?
The breach began earlier this month when 773million emails and 21million passwords were dumped by an anonymous hacker into an enormous online cache known as Collection #1.

They came from data leaks across a range of websites spanning several years, with many of the sites involved apparently unaware they had been breached.

Now, hackers have bolstered the cache of credentials with a new dump that takes the total to 2.2billion email addresses and passwords.

Dubbed Collections #2-5, the dump features 611 million credentials that weren’t included in the Collection #1 database, according to researchers at the Hasso Plattner Institute.

"Unlike previous high profile data dumps, where the data all comes from one compromised party, this appears to be a carefully curated collection of dumps from a large collection of compromises," Nick Murison, of security firm Synopsys, told The Sun.

"A brief skim of the alleged sources suggests that these are smaller online entities that likely have not spent much time or resources on security.

"Some of them may not even be aware that they have been compromised some time ago, and that the data may originate from years earlier."

How to check if you've been exposed by Collections #1-5
The easiest way to check if your details have been exposed is to go to HaveIBeenPwned.com.

Enter your email address and you'll get a list of all the breaches you've been caught up in – if any.

You can also click this link to sign up for email alerts, so you'll be immediately notified if your details are exposed in a breach.

You can't check exactly which of your passwords have been exposed, which is frustrating.

So the best advice is to change all of your passwords on every account you have. Importantly, make sure they're all different from each other.

That might sound like a monumental task, but there are some tools that make it very easy.

If you largely use Apple devices, follow our guide to using Safari and the iCloud Keychain to generate strong passwords – and keep them safe and easily accessible.

Alternatively, the 1Password service is another great password manager that's highly recommend by security boffs.

If those don't work for you, Sam Curry, chief security officer at Cybereason, has some sage advice.

"Resetting passwords is always a good security measure, and you'd be surprised how many people today still use the password 123456 or ABCDEF," he told The Sun.

"In this day and age, and with a more complex and diverse attack surface, this is never a good idea. Laziness is no excuse, as hackers prey on this and their biggest asset is patience and time.

"Please tighten your passwords and if you are one of the millions of people using 123456 at least add a hashtag (#), exclamation point (!) or other symbols to give yourself a fighting chance of better protecting what is proprietary to you."

Security researchers recently revealed that as many as 9million Android phones had been infected with malware.

And watch out for the infamous WhatsApp Gold scam that could leave you exposed to hackers.

If you're using Windows 7, you should update your PC very soon to avoid being hacked too.

Do you ever worry about being hacked? Let us know in the comments!