What is Data?
“A collection of information”. Data consists of information about users
like name, email address, physical address, mobile number, bank account number,
debit/debit card details, login credentials, and other sensitive information.
What is Data Breach?
When we create a login account
on any application or website, we have to provide details like name, mobile
number, password, and email address. This is basic information but if it is any
financial service website it will have our bank account details, transactions,
loan, policies, etc, in the case of food delivery or e-commerce application it
will have our delivery address too. It is the responsibility of that company to
store the user data with proper security measures. But somehow hackers gain
access to that data and make it public. This collective sensitive information
of thousands of users, access to unauthorized people, becomes a data breach.
Is your data safe?
Whenever do you get to know that
any company’s data has been breached, what comes to your mind? Does my
information include in this data leak? So the question is how can you know if
your data is also present in a particular data leak? We can check it using your
mobile number and email address. There is a website
‘https://haveibeenpwned.com/’. On this website, you can check whether your
information is in a data breach or not.
Here is a step-by-step procedure-
Step 1- Go
to Google and search “haveibeenpwned”.
Step 2- Now
click on this website https://haveibeenpwned.com/
Step 3-
Type your mobile number or email address and click on the button ‘pwned?’
If your
data is found in any data breach it will show you.
What should I do now?
If you find your data in any
data breach then you should definitely think about what should I do now. And
yes we can do some things about this. It is true that there is no rollback for
data breaches but still we have some practice to do. Whenever you hear about a
data leak just check it out on ‘haveibeenpwned’, if it is there then
immediately change your login credentials.
Practices every user should do
- Never use your old password again.
- Immediately change your password
when you find a data breach.
- Keep changing your passwords
regularly.
- Practice 2-factor authentication.
What can hackers do with your leaked data?
They can log in to your accounts
and steal your emails, transactions, medical records, financial details,
addresses, etc. They may create social media account with your identity. They
can use your identity to steal your money. They may exploit you.
Some other
websites to check data breach
avast.com/hackchek
dehashed.com
whatsmyipaddress.com/breach-check
Note: For
better password management please go through this blog.
Thank you