Have You Been pwned?

[universal4]

For almost everyone here, (except those living under a rock) the fact that data breaches and database hacks are frequent is common knowledge.

While researching something not related earlier I ran across this list which I had not looked at in a while and see that it was updated sine I last viewed it, and was not surprised to see most on the list but it was interesting to see how varied and extensive the list has grown.

haveibeenpwned has an extensive list of websites where emails, and other personal data has been exposed or otherwise compromised, and may answer the question, "Was I hacked?"
haveibeenpwned

Obviously the many hundreds or thousands of times email addresses have been sold to spammers is a very clear reflection of how and why the spam problem is completely out of control, and at times why asking the question "where did you get my email?" is rarely answered any more.

The majority of the data breaches listed are far more complicated and dangerous then simply exposing email addy's, but it also helps to be reminded on occasion that we must always stay vigilant and remember to try and keep our details and information safe and to always use strong passwords and not reuse passwords anywhere.

Rick
Universal4

[ddm]

its worse than just that u were pwned.

opportunistic scammers have been decrypting the passwords hashes, logging into peoples emails (cos they use same password everywhere) and emailing the users [from their own email] - with a crypto sextortion scam with the gist of "send us $ via BTC or we will send videos of your webcam activity while browsing pr0n to all your contacts.. "

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cyberc...elcome-return/

no doubt a lot of suckers fall for it.

Another lesson to the wise, a bit of black tape over your webcam is good, just in case some hackers do ever pwn your PC ... even Zuck has tape on his...

[universal4]

I am personally not too worried about someone gaining remote control of my computer and taking over my camera, but it is a concern when so many sites where my personal information might be stored could be compromised.

I can understand why zuckerberg would be worried about it though, since he is connected to such a large corporate environment that has been compromised a number of times.

Sadly most of the largest hacks have been due to suckers falling for a social engineered hack that was targeted to specific individuals, as well as trojans etc downloaded and run by folks getting emails they assumed were valid in situations such as you outlined where they came from contact lists within hacked email accounts.

Rick
Universal4