How To Know If Your Data Has Been Compromised In a Data Breach.
The internet is insecure. This is a fact that cannot be ignored or ignored, especially if you plan on trusting online services with your most sensitive data. As you read this, attempts are being made to hack computer systems around the world. Perhaps you have already become a victim of a data breach and do not even know about it.
Fortunately, there are ways to check if your data is at risk of data breaches. Online services such as Have I Been Pwned, DeHashed, and BreachAlarm will allow you to check any references to your personal information, such as email addresses or passwords, in previous data breaches.
Hacked
If you want to quickly check if your data is at risk of data leakage, you can try using Have I Been Pwned. The Have I Been Pwned database, run by security expert Troy Hunt, includes (at time of publication) 416 website hacks and over nine billion hacked accounts.
The Have I Been Pwned service allows you to search the database for any registered examples of email addresses or passwords in databases for compromised data. Obviously, we always recommend that you take extra care before entering a password into a web form, even when using such a service.
However, if your password has been compromised, it is already at risk anyway. We’d suggest changing your passwords regularly and using a master password manager so you can use multiple strong passwords for each of your accounts.
- To use the service, go to the main Have section of the I Been Pwned website or the HIBP password section. In the prominent search bar, enter your email address or password, then click Pwned to start the search.
If your email address or password is found during any of the data leaks recorded on the site, he will warn you. As for passwords, there will be no information about which sites were hacked, but you will find out how often the password itself appeared during data leaks.
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It is possible that if you use a fairly common or insecure password, other people will use the same password as well. Users with password “password123” or similar weak password, please note and change immediately.
For email addresses, HIBP will provide you with a little more detail. This includes additional information about which sites or hacks the email address was found on. For security reasons, information on some violations is limited.
If you would like to be kept informed of any future data breaches, please click “Notify me†at the top of the HIBP website. You will then receive an email notification when your email address is discovered in future leaks.
DeHashed
While Have I Been Pwned provides a fairly simple search for emails and passwords, DeHashed‘s search engine for data leaks is much more powerful. It not only allows you to search for email addresses and passwords, but it also allows you to verify any data, including your name or phone number.
With over 11 billion records, it has a broader set of searchable data for users. It supports powerful search arguments like wildcards or regex expressions. There is also a list of hacked sites that you can check first, with over 24,000 searchable databases.
Like HIBP, DeHashed is completely free to use, although in the free plan some results are censored. If you need full access to the DeHashed database, it will cost you $ 1.99 for one day, $ 3.49 for seven days, or $ 9.99 for 30 days.
- To use DeHashed, enter your search information. into the prominent search bar on the DeHashed home page. This can be an email address, name, phone number, password, or other sensitive information. Click “Search” to start your search.
- DeHashed will provide a list of matching results on a typical search page. Censored results will be flagged and you will need to be signed in with the appropriate subscription to be able to view them. You will also need a subscription to view more information about any violations.
- If you want to know if a particular website has been compromised, go to the DeHashed Violation List, press Ctrl + F and enter your domain name. In most modern web browsers, this should allow you to search the page for any relevant results.
While unlimited searches are expensive, DeHashed provides a broader set of data for finding violations.
BreachAlarm
If DeHashed is too complicated to use, then BreachAlarm is another unified search service that works similarly to Have I Been Pwned. It is a much more limited service, with over 900 million email accounts listed in the various abuse databases it maintains.
BreachAlarm is easy to use, with an easy to read list of violations that users can check, and like HIBP and DeHashed, a search engine that you can use to verify your data. There is also a data leak finder for companies that you can use that allows you to search for any mention of the associated domain name.
- To use BreachAlarm, go to either home search or business search (accessible from the top menu of the site). In the search bar, enter your email address or domain name, then click “Check Now” to start your search.
- For your protection, BreachAlarm will only provide results for any potential matches with the email address you provide. Click to confirm the CAPTCHA, then accept the terms by clicking I understand.
- Once accepted, BreachAlarm will provide you with a summary of whether your information was discovered in previous data breaches. Check your email address for more information, but if you’d like to receive updates on future violations, click “Active Email Watchdog Timer Free” in the pop-up window.
The email results will show the date your email address was hacked, but they will not provide you with information about where the data breach occurred. For more information, you will need one of the other listed services.
Keep your data safe online
There is no reliable way to protect your data from data leakage. Every time you register your data with an online service, that data is transmitted and may be compromised in the future.
To stay as secure as possible, you should also consider using a password manager like LastPass or Dashlane to help you generate secure passwords for each of your accounts. Be sure to also check these services regularly to keep abreast of any new data leaks.
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