Use this tool to see if your data has been exposed online

By Kim Komando

September 8, 2021

© Gmm2000 | Dreamstime.com

We all know the dangers of data breaches. When large caches of information are leaked, those involved are at risk of many serious issues, including identity theft and other costly and frustrating cybercrimes.

There have been a lot of data breaches making headlines in recent months. Remember when the credit card info of millions of guests leaked in a travel site data breach a few months ago? That was just one of many recent incidents involving stolen data.

It doesn’t end there, either. Data breaches are an ongoing issue. If you’re worried that your information has been part of a data breach, you can check using a tool from CyberNews. Let’s look at how this tool works and what it can help you with.

Here’s the backstory

It’s important to stay on top of what data is being leaked as part of these security incidents. When data breaches occur, a cache of account information is accessed, stolen and used by a cybercriminal without authorization by the breached accountholders or company.

It’s important to know whether your information has been leaked as part of a breach, which the new CyberNews checker can help you with. This free tool is available to help you check if your data was leaked so you can take measures to protect your information.

Here’s how it works:

• You need an email address to use it. All it takes to use this tool is your email address. Enter it into the search tool on the site and it compares your email address against the data in the database to see if your information has been breached.
• It’s the largest data leak checker available. While other tools work similarly, the perk of using the CyberNews data leak checker is that it’s the biggest in the market, with information on more than 15 billion compromised accounts.
• The system is secure. The information in CyberNews’ database is hashed with Blowfish based crypt (bcrypt) hashing algorithm, one of the safest hashing algorithms available. Plus, all emails are anonymized and are linked only to the source of the leak.
• It doesn’t store your information. When you check for your information with the CyberNews checker, your email is not collected, logged or stored during the process.

How can this tool help me?

Personal data is stolen from websites each day and published in different forums or places on the web. It’s not unusual for this information to end up for sale on the Dark Web to be used in various crimes, from identity theft to phishing and spamming campaigns.

Even a small amount of leaked data can give cybercriminals the tools they need to:

• Steal your other accounts
• Try to phish or spam you
• Steal your identity
• Ruin your finances or reputation

You need to do everything you can to avoid becoming a victim of these types of crimes, which starts by running your email through this tool.

To check if your email address was leaked:

• Enter the email address in the search field on the CyberNews data leak checker website.
• The tool hashes the email you entered and uses only this hash to perform a database search.
• The search results appear on the same page.

How to protect yourself if your data was exposed

If you find that your information was included as part of a data breach, you need to take some steps to keep yourself safe. This includes:

1. Changing your passwords: Change the passwords for all of your accounts that use the leaked email addresses, and if you reuse passwords from account to account, change all of your passwords. Use unique passwords on each account rather than generic or similar passwords from account to account.
2. Getting a password manager: Your passwords need to be as strong as possible to protect your accounts. A password manager can help you generate strong passwords and protect your accounts while ensuring you never forget a password. Tap or click here for an in-depth look at password managers.
3. Use two-factor authentication: Two-factor authentication, or 2FA, can also help protect your personal information. 2FA adds a second layer of security to your accounts by having you complete two separate steps to log in.

Bottom line

Nobody wants to find out that their information has been leaked across the web, but it’s important to know. Otherwise, you can’t take the steps you should to protect yourself and your valuable information from cybercriminals who want to use it for several frustrating and costly scams.

Keep reading

• Medical data breach exposes personal info – see the list of providers
• Security alert: 100 million search engine records revealed online

Tags: Cybercrimes, cybercriminals, Dark Web, data breaches, identity theft, password manager, personal data, phishing, search engine, security, two-factor authentication