How to check your email or phone involved in a data breach

 

With the below method you can check your information for possible data breach.

To check if you have been pwned simple Click Here and key in your phone number, full name or email address you will be notify instantly.

When you start receiving fake job offerings, blackmailing mails, abusive porn sites, undeliverable delivering orders, storytelling and lots more notes your email may have been compromised.

Being pwned could have been a hack involving your service provider not necessarily you.

For example your bank, providers, or the services you used online might be involved in a data breach and your details would be made public for the army of thieves.

How to check for a data breach with Haveibeenpwned?

  1. Open the site HaveiBeenPwned
  2. Key in your email address or phone number

To avoid more damages.

  1. Simply change your password and email with the service provider
  2. Do not use the same password or email you used everywhere.
  3. Add third party authentication

When the incoming spam mails persist, simply change your email and do a mail forward to avoid you clicking on links sent to you.

Business owners should educate staff, not only the ICT department on latest online traits to avoid damages.

Examples of the emails from imposters

 

Do not try to unsubscribe from these unsolicited junk mails because you have never subscribed to any if you do you risk your destiny.

Email samples such as above pictures indicate you have been pwned! If the spam keeps rolling in, it could mean your email address was exposed in a data breach

It can be hard to prevent spam when cybercriminals have your information. One option in this case is to change your email address. With free email services like Gmail, it’s easy to create multiple accounts so you can limit the spam that appears in your primary inbox.

Here’s how:

  1. Start by registering for a new account with your current email service.
  2. Next, notify your contacts from your new account that you’ve changed email addresses.
  3. Finally, navigate to the Settings section and add the new email address to forward incoming emails from your old account.

How to add a forwarding email address

After creating a new address, you may want to set it up so that you still receive emails from your old address. You can do this by adjusting the forwarding settings.

Forwarding your email address allows you to update your contact information on all accounts tied to your original email account. You can do it in four easy steps:

In the old email account, go to the Settings option.
Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
In the Add a forwarding address box, enter the new email address.
Click “Next” to verify the process.
Be sure to keep both accounts open for a few months, so you can redirect any remaining messages to the new account.

Golden Rules

Delete spam emails
There is a golden rule to dealing with spam emails: if it looks like a spam message, it probably is — so delete it without clicking or downloading anything. Such messages may contain software that tells the sender you’ve opened the email, confirming you have an active account, which may lead to even more spam messages.

Some malware programs can steal your email address and use it to resend spam messages under the guise of a legitimate address. For example, imposters could pose as someone you know, like a friend, relative, or colleague.

If the message in question appears to come from someone you know, contact them outside of your email.

Common spam email security threats

Spam emails are annoying enough, but some of them can put your digital safety at risk. Some spam messages contain viruses, malware, and other cyberthreats. Here are a few to watch for.

Trojan horses

Trojan horses come disguised as a legitimate program. Even if you think you know how to verify whether an email is legitimate, a trojan horse uses deception to get past those defense mechanisms.

For instance, they can hide inside free software downloads or arrive as an email attachment, possibly from someone you know.

When you open the email, the trojan installs malicious code — typically spyware or viruses — designed to create problems on your computer.

It may allow an attacker to control your computer, lock you out, steal your data, account information or email addresses. Installing anti-malware software may help you catch these trojans.

To help avoid trojan horses, avoid clicking on pop-up messages on your computer. If you are seeing a lot of pop-ups, consider running an antivirus scan.

Zombies

Zombies are a type of malware that also comes in email attachments. They turn your computer into a server and send spam to other computers. You may not know that your computer is compromised, but it may slow down considerably or the battery may drain quickly. Meanwhile, your computer may be sending out waves of spam or attacking web pages.

One way to avoid zombies is to avoid opening attachments or clicking links in emails from your spam folder.

Phishing and vishers

Phishing emails often try to mimic messages from legitimate financial companies or other businesses you may use. The spam phishing email will ask you to go to a fraudulent or spoofed website to re-enter your credit card number or verify your password. It’s a scheme to capture that personal information.

Vishers will try to have you call them on the phone to provide your personal information. Keep in mind that reputable businesses would not make such requests by email or phone.

Perform a Google search on the company to verify legitimacy to avoid phishing scams.

For vishers, if you don’t recognize the number, let the caller leave a voice-mail message. Local or not, only respond to calls that are in your phone book.

Lottery scams and fake offers

Sometimes, cyber thieves use old-school scams that might seem legitimate but are fake offers. These play on your desires or good nature: You’ve won a lot of money or someone urgently needs your help.

In reality, you haven’t won a lottery or a cruise around the world. And you haven’t been selected by a foreign prince to receive $10 million, in exchange for the use of your bank account number.

Look for phrases of urgency like, “Immediate,” and “Act Now” in the email’s title to avoid lottery scams and fake offers.

How to stay spam free
So far, there is no such thing as a “do not email” list for spam. Until there is, you’ll have to take care of spam yourself.

Fortunately, there are good tools to help you do that. Most email programs include spam filters that can help detect and isolate spam. Many internet service providers filter out spam, so it never reaches your computer. But it’s wise to install and run anti-virus security software that can eliminate viruses that may already live on your computer.

Should spam slip through these filters, take the simplest approach to suspicious emails and click delete.

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Categorized as Bitcoin