Your personal data may have been breached - Take action now!
It seems barely a day goes by without another massive data breach being announced. Only recently, Zynga, the online games company (think Farmville) also had a data breach.
In this edition of the CyberSafe alert, you'll find out how to check if you’ve been a victim of a data breach and what to do about it.
In general, companies that have been the subject of a data breach are required to inform
their customers of the breach. But what happens if the company themselves are unaware that they’ve been hacked, or if the contact details they have for you are out of date so you don’t get the message? Or worse, what if the company is trying to keep the data breach quiet for commercial reasons and don’t tell you at all?
As regular readers of the Cybersafe alert know, we give you simple actionable information to tackle cybersecurity issues. This Cybersafe Alert is no different. Today we provide you with two options for checking if you are part of a data breach. The first service you can use is Firefox Monitor.
Firefox Monitor is extremely simple to use, regardless of whether you use the Firefox browser or not. Of course if you have read the CyberSafe book, it’s likely you are already using the Firefox browser or something like it. To use Firefox monitor to check whether your data has been breached, all you have to do is the following:
- Go to the Firefox monitor URL at https://monitor.firefox.com/
- Type in the email address that you want to check
- If your email address has been part of a data breach, it will show up. The Firefox monitor records go back to 2007
- As well as doing a spot check, you can also set up an alert for future breaches so you don’t have to wait to be notified by the organisation that has been hacked
The other service for checking whether your password may have been breached is Google’s password manager.
Google will now include the password checking feature in its password manager app, which means that you have to use Google’s password manager to save your passwords in order to take advantage of it. This shouldn’t be a problem for those of you who use Google products already.
So what does Google's password checker do? Well, as well as letting you know about password breaches, the password manager will also prevent you from using bad passwords. If you want to find out how to improve the quality of your passwords, you can also read the Cybersafe Alert Edition 2 - The unhackable password.
Password Checkup tells you if your password has been compromised (for example, in a breach), and gives you personalized, actionable recommendations when needed. For example, it will advise you to change the password. The tool will also tell you if your password is being used on multiple sites.
Did you find this Cybersafe alert useful? Yes? Well, don’t keep this useful information to yourself. Use the sharing buttons to share this valuable information with your family and friends so they can protect themselves online.
Following the advice in CyberSafe should go a long way to keeping you safe online. As we like to say at the CyberSafe alert - Don’t Be Scared; Be Prepared.
Are you new to the Cybersafe report? If so you’ve missed out on some great information to keep you and your family and business safe online. Here’s what you have missed so far this year:
- Edition 1 - Are your toys spying on you?
- Edition 2 - The unhackable password
- Edition 3 - Is It Safe To Hit 'Send' Now?
- Edition 4 - WhatsApp Hacked!? Here's What To Do About It
- Edition 5 - Is the new “Sign in with Apple” button a game changer?
- Edition 6 - Why your personal calls are not personal anymore
- Edition 7 - Has your wallet been hacked?
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If you can't wait for the next CyberSafe Alert to tell you how to protect yourself online, get CyberSafe the book. It's packed with the useful information and strategies you need to keep yourself, your family, and your business safe online.
Disclaimer
Every effort has been made to ensure that the content provided in this post is accurate and helpful for our readers. However, this is not an exhaustive treatment of the subjects. No liability is assumed for losses or damages due to the information provided. You are responsible for your own choices, actions, and results.
