If you're not already using a password manager, now is certainly the time to make the change...
According to Troy Hunt, cybersecurity expert and man behind 'Have I Been Pwned?', the data breach comprises nearly 773 million unique email addresses and over 21 million unique passwords. The data totals more than 87GB across 12,000 separate files, and was reported to Hunt from a number of sources. The data breach has been dubbed 'Collection #1'.
The data was reportedly collected from over 2,000 sources, and has been widely circulated among hackers.
If you want to check whether you have been affected by this, or any previous, data breach you can do so here: Have I Been Pwned?
Simply enter you email address and the website will tell you if it occurs in any of the leaked data. In addition you can sign up for email updates which will let you know if your data crops up in any future breaches.
Have I Been Pwned? doesn't store passwords alongside email addresses, they are kept in a separate database for security purposes. If you want to check whether a particular password is part of the data breach you can check here: HIBP Passwords
If your password comes up in that database you are strongly advised to change it at every place you currently use it, and don't use it again.
Although data security has improved greatly over recent years, you should never rely on a third party to keep your data safe. That is why it is so important to use unique passwords for every different log in. This is obviously not something that most people will be able to memorise, which is where password managers come in. Password managers keep a database of all of your passwords, and then you just need to remember one really good password to access them.
If you need any help with password security, be sure to check out our handy guide here: How to create secure passwords
According to Troy Hunt, cybersecurity expert and man behind 'Have I Been Pwned?', the data breach comprises nearly 773 million unique email addresses and over 21 million unique passwords. The data totals more than 87GB across 12,000 separate files, and was reported to Hunt from a number of sources. The data breach has been dubbed 'Collection #1'.
The data was reportedly collected from over 2,000 sources, and has been widely circulated among hackers.
If you want to check whether you have been affected by this, or any previous, data breach you can do so here: Have I Been Pwned?
Simply enter you email address and the website will tell you if it occurs in any of the leaked data. In addition you can sign up for email updates which will let you know if your data crops up in any future breaches.
Have I Been Pwned? doesn't store passwords alongside email addresses, they are kept in a separate database for security purposes. If you want to check whether a particular password is part of the data breach you can check here: HIBP Passwords
If your password comes up in that database you are strongly advised to change it at every place you currently use it, and don't use it again.
Although data security has improved greatly over recent years, you should never rely on a third party to keep your data safe. That is why it is so important to use unique passwords for every different log in. This is obviously not something that most people will be able to memorise, which is where password managers come in. Password managers keep a database of all of your passwords, and then you just need to remember one really good password to access them.
If you need any help with password security, be sure to check out our handy guide here: How to create secure passwords
