For the last few days, a news has been spreading rapidly in the tech world. Around 149 million emails and passwords are openly available on the internet. At first glance this seems like a big hack. But the real story is a little different. According to reports, this data was not stolen by hacking the server of any one company. Rather, a new, larger database has been created by combining old data leaked from different websites and apps over the past few years. In simple words, a new list has been created by combining the old stolen data. This is why users of popular platforms like Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, Netflix and PayPal are worried that their data may also be included in it.
What is the real danger?
If your email and password have already been leaked in a previous data breach and you’ve used the same password on multiple sites, hackers can try it on other accounts as well. This is called credential stuffing attack. So the problem is not just with a website, but with your password habits.
How to know if your data is leaked or not?
This is where a trustworthy website called Have I Been Pwned comes in handy. This website was created by global cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt, and is trusted by large companies around the world. This website became quite popular during the last data leak. On this site you just have to enter your email address. If your email is found in a major data leak, the site will let you know immediately. This website is very easy to use and it is free.
This will tell you:
From which website the data was leaked
year of leak
Was only the email leaked or were passwords also included?
What to do if your data is found leaked?
There is no need to panic. Do these four things immediately:
Change your password immediately from the site where it was leaked.
If you have used the same password on other sites, change it there too.
From now on, use a different password for every major site.
Turn on two-factor authentication immediately.
For password management, you can consider using a paid password management tool. Tools like 1Password are popular because they manage your passwords and can even generate unique passwords.
