773 million email addresses exposed in ‘mega data breach’ - How to check

Protecting user data has become increasingly important amid stricter regulation implementation. However, despite this, there has been a lot of data breaches. While if you consider facebook leaking your data to the third party as bad the recent data breach will not only shock you but will also make you rethink on a need to change your email address password if not already done. A database comprising 773 million records, including email addresses and passwords were exposed in a data breach publicized by security researcher Troy Hunt in the week. Dubbed Collection #1, Troy warned that the list can be used by criminals to carry out hacking attacks.

It’s not clear how long the sensitive records are public, but the breach is wide-reaching. The list includes log-in credentials from over 2,000 websites. The researcher has integrated the database on the website ‘Have I been Pwned’ (Click Here to Visit Website). You can easily check if your email ID was part of hacked email IDs list, by just entering your email ID in the dialog box.

You can check if your email id, password, or other data appears on the list for free through his site. Hunt said even his own information appeared in the big trove of stolen emails and passwords, despite his intensive security practices as a privacy professional.

If your email ID has NOT been hacked, then you will get this message. "Good news — no pwnage found! No breached accounts and no pastes (subscribe to search sensitive breaches)."

"Oh no — pwned! Pwned on three breached sites and found no pastes (subscribe to search sensitive breaches). It will clearly list the security breaches your email ID was leaked in. It will also tell about the name and number of security breaches your email ID has been leaked in, with names.

Large breaches like these are typically used for “data-stuffing attacks,” in which hackers use bots to automatically test millions of emails and password combinations across many website login pages until they gain access. This means if you use a similar password across different websites, you could be at risk of being compromised, even at sites that weren’t hacked.

To check if your password has been hacked. Just head to the website: https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords. Enter your password in the dialog box given on the page.

What message will come if your password has NOT been hacked Message: "Good news — no pwnage found!"

The message that will come if your password HAS been hacked. "Oh no — pwned! Pwned on three breached sites and found no pastes (subscribe to search sensitive breaches)." Here too it'll clearly tell you the name and number of security breaches wherever your password was leaked in.