Data Breaches and How To Protect Yourself

Remain vigilant

Jul 18, 2024

🎉 Before we get started with the post, I just want to say that today marks one year that I have been on Substack! Originally, I started this newsletter as an extension of my blog, but now it’s a place where I share information regarding privacy. Here’s to another year and more at The Privacy Cloud!

It seems like there's a data breach every single damn day. It's quite pathetic that we are experiencing this. Since there seems to be no end in sight, here is an overview of what a data breach is, why it happens, and what to do when you are affected by one.

What is a data breach?

A data breach is a situation where personal, private, confidential, or sensitive information is accessed and exposed without authorization. It can be an accident or done intentionally. This leads to data loss for users as information such as emails, passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal identifiable information (PII) is leaked and is no longer protected.

How does a data breach happen?

There are many ways that data breaches can happen. Some ways include: phishing attacks, insider attacks, and weak data security.

What happens with your exposed data?

Since it's out there in the world, anyone could find and access it and use your data to cause you mayhem. They could use your logins to change your information, log you out of your accounts, and even steal your identity. Remember, data breaches contain all kinds of PII; anything they can get a hold of can lead to more nightmares for you.

Your data will also likely enter the Dark Web, a part of the internet that is inaccessible through search engines as it is not indexed. There are special market places that specialize in the collecting and selling of personal information for financial gain.

What to do when a data breach is recorded?

You should check out Have I Been Pwned?, a site where you can look up your email addresses and passwords to see if they were caught up in a data breach. It’s a great resource because it makes it a little easier to see what data breaches happened and if you were caught up in one.

Aside from the site, you should check your accounts to see if there is any unusual activity, such as not being able to login, unauthorized purchases, or any other changes that are not familiar to you.

Here some other steps you should follow as well:

Change your passwords. Do NOT use one password for all of your accounts. Create strong passwords for each one. Use an end-to-end encrypted password manager, such as Bitwarden or Proton Pass, to create and store your passwords.
Consider changing your email address as well for your accounts. Or use email aliases such as SimpleLogin, addy.io, or Proton Pass hide-my-email aliases.
Enable two-factor or multi-factor authentication. This gives your accounts extra security, so even if they have your login credentials, they won’t be able to bypass the authentication step. Yubikey, 2FAS, or Ente Auth are good services to harden your accounts.

Overall, remian viligant. Try to keep up-to-date with your accounts to make sure nothing suspicious is happening. Educate yourself on ways to better protect your data, so if you are affected by one, you are more prepared to protect yourself.

Until Next Time,

Monique 🔐

Sources:

What Is A Data Breach?

What is a data breach and how to prevent it

What to do if your data is leaked?

Additional links for further reading: