Every day, you hear about security breaches of popular services like Google or Equifax but how do you know if you are affected and what should you do when you are involved in a security breach?
Firstly, what is a security breach? A security breach is where a large amount of information has been stolen off of a company’s server such as usernames, passwords, social security numbers, and more. Security breaches are unfortunately becoming more and more common in this day and age as hackers are finding new ways to expose people’s data. So, where does this data go? This data is typically sold on the dark web and sometimes on the internet for hackers to steal money and identities from normal everyday people. This information is used to buy expensive items and create new identities so the hacker remains anonymous.
But how do you know if your information has been breached? Sure there are more obvious ways like suspicious charges on your credit card or bank account but how do you make sure? Well, first you can check if your email address has been breached. Head to https://haveibeenpwned.com and enter your email address to check your email against the millions of pwned accounts in their database. There you will see a summary of where your email has been leaked, if anywhere.
You can also check against your passwords at https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords:
As you can see, the email inputted has been breached 8 times and pasted 1 time. Email breaches are not a big deal and do not mean that you need to new email address. It only means that you need to change your password in order to be secure. The password inputted was breached 290 times before. If your password has been breached then you need to reset the password any accounts that have that specific password in order to avoid someone logging into your account. This will ensure that your data and information is safe.
It is very important to regularly check your information against breaches and pastes in order to keep your information safe from hackers. The internet can be a dangerous place, but if you take the correct steps to ensure your data is safe, the internet can become a fun place to hang out and have a good time.