There’s a free, user friendly tool to see if your email accounts have been compromised in data breaches. It’s a web application called “Have I Been Pwned?” and can be found at this link:

https://haveibeenpwned.com

Hackers often use quirky terms and references to games, movies, and other pop-culture sources. In this case, “pwned” is a common gamer term that is derived from the word “owned”. When a gamer’s character is killed or otherwise loses the game, they are said to have been “owned”. The close proximity on the keyboard of the letters “O” and “P” result in a common hasty misspelling of owned rendered “pwned”. The misspelling stuck and now “pwned” indicates you have lost or are a victim in some way. Has your email been pwned?

By simply entering your email address into the Have I Been Pwned search engine, you can discover whether your email account is among the millions that have been collected by hackers who have successfully breached big business databases. It’s a good idea to check your personal and business email accounts, and those of your children or senior family members.

If you find that, indeed, you have been “pwned”, you should immediately change your password on that account and watch out for suspicious activity associated with that account. Additionally, if you use that email account or it’s compromised password to login to any of the sites you frequent, change those passwords, as well. The best Internet is a safe Internet, and this tool can help secure your digital life.

To learn other ways you can protect yourself, ask We Know Cyber about our globally recognized VPN, Anti-virus, and Advanced Threat Protection services at 302-451-9555 or guy@weknowcyber.com!