Some of your credentials are most likely on the dark web!
With all of the breaches that have happened over the last several years, I can almost guarantee that some of your credentials have ended up on the dark web. If they have, then you need to change those passwords… yesterday!
With one click you can tell if your credentials have been exposed.
One site has been gathering these millions of data points from the biggest data breaches on record so you can check if your email address and/or password have been hacked.
More information:
Find Out If Your Email Has Been Compromised in a Data Breach
Help Desk Geek
How to tell if any of your website passwords have been hacked
TechRepublic
More breach detectors:
Firefox Monitor
By Mozilla, but does not require the Firefox browser
Avast hack check
By the Avast antivirus company
If you re-use passwords, then it only takes one company to allow a data breach in order for all of your same-password accounts to be breached. If you use the same password on tens or hundreds of sites, then the hacker can open tens or hundreds of doors with a single exposed password.
Let’s face it. You have a lot of online accounts. You already know that each of them should have unique passwords (right?). But you can’t rely on just your own fortitude to protect your passwords. Each company for which you have an online account also stores them. Just because you are doing an exemplary job of protecting your passwords does not mean that your password won’t end up for sale on the dark web. Many companies have had data breaches, and they don’t just affect their own bottom line… they can affect yours.
Earlier this year a massive database of 772,904,991 unique email addresses and more than 21 million unique passwords was posted to a hacker forum. It is referred to as “Collection #1” by security researcher Troy Hunt, the person who first reported it. Based on its sheer size, there is a very good chance that your data is included. Adding it to the previous collections of data that Troy Hunt has collected, there is an excellent chance that your data is “out there”.
Troy’s database (hosted on his “Have I been pwned?” site) is broken into two sections: Email addresses and Passwords. I strongly suggest you read both sections below.
NOTE: To confirm your data has been exposed, you will need to enter your email address and/or password into Troy’s site. We feel it is safe to do so for the following reasons:
* Troy is a well known and established expert in the field of security.
* His site does not store the data provided. It matches it against the database, responds with the results, and discards the entered data.
* You will not be entering your email address and password together. Each check is separate.
PLEASE DO NOT enter your email address and/or password on any other site. If you are curious about a different site and want us to vest it, please let us know.
EMAIL ADDRESSES
The email address database will check if yours has been exposed, and will then list the companies whose data breach(es) exposed it. You will then want to change the passwords at those companies (and every other company where you used that same password)
How do I check if my email address has been exposed?
Follow this link to Troy Hunt’s site and enter your email address.
PASSWORDS
If any of your passwords are listed in the password database, then you should change them. Your passwords should be unique. Hackers use databases like this to crack into your accounts.
How do I check if my password has been exposed?
Follow this link to Troy Hunt’s site and enter your password.
If you have questions about this, please let us know and we will be happy to assist you.
Take care,
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