Find Out If Your Password Has Been Compromised
Digital Wellness - Bits & Bytes
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Have you been pwned (pwned is slang for “being owned”)?
Go to Have I been pwned to find out if your email address has been compromised: https://haveibeenpwned.com/
If you’re like most people, one or more of your email addresses has been compromised at some point.
More than half of us use the same password for multiple accounts. So what’s the problem? Well, say for example your Netflix password is compromised and you use that same password for your bank account. A hacker with your Netflix password can then try and use it for any and all other accounts that they can find under your name.
Whether it’s your Facebook account (533 million Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data were leaked online in 2021), your email account (3 billion Yahoo accounts breached between 2013 and 2016) or even your online account for your exercise equipment (Peloton users are being warned of a new security threat), it’s important to know when you’ve been compromised.
So what do you do? Well, we would advocate you take these 3 steps...
01
Never Use the same password for any two accounts
If you find it hard to remember all your passwords, consider using a password management service like Last Pass or Google’s built in password manager.
02
Know When you are compromised
That website have I been pwned actually has a subscription service where they alert all subscribers when a breach has been noted for a certain online application. Most companies also send you an email letting you know someone else tried to access your account (sometimes halfway around the world).
03
Consider using a 2-factor authentication
More and more online accounts have this feature. Basically it means that anytime you or someone tries to access your account from a different device than your typical ones (your phone, your laptop) it will ask you to enter a second code that is often sent to your email or cell phone.
Finally, any time you think you’ve been compromised... Whether you hear of a data breach in the news, you get an email that someone tried accessing your account from Russia, or you see some suspicious activity on your account. Remember to change your password.
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