Data leak checker:
Have I been hacked?

While the terms “data leak” and “data breach” are often used interchangeably, they’re not the same when it comes to cybersecurity. A data leak involves sensitive information being exposed because of internal negligence — for example, an employee accidentally sending customer information to the wrong email address. A data breach, on the other hand, is perpetrated by a malicious outside party, using means such as hacking or social engineering.

The result is the same in both cases (sensitive data winds up where it doesn’t belong), but each reveals the organization’s vulnerabilities from a very different angle. In the aftermath of a data leak, a company may choose to strengthen its data handling policies, while a data breach may prompt smart investment into cybersecurity tools.

A secure password is one that cannot be easily guessed or brute forced. Hackers will literally throw the dictionary at your login screen — through automated means, they can try out hundreds of thousands of commonly used words, phrases, or symbol combinations to force their way in.

The best passwords contain a random collection of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. The longer the password, the more secure it is — each additional character increases the number of combinations that hackers have to try out exponentially. If you’re interested, we have even more tips for creating strong passwords.

MFA requires anyone logging in to your account to pass another security checkpoint using a measure that should only be in your physical possession. Hackers can no longer use a stolen password to stealthily wreak havoc on your digital life — in fact, you may even be alerted to their activities by unexpected MFA requests!

The most common way to enable MFA is to use an authentication app, which generates unique codes tied to your account every few seconds on your phone — no phone means no code, and no code means no access. Other popular MFA methods include security keys, SMS messages, or biometric authentication.

Most people know that a strong password should have at least 12 characters and use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Most people also don’t follow this advice. The reality is that it’s very, very hard for the human brain to remember a complex string of characters, which is why so many opt for common phrases or simply reuse the same password for multiple accounts.

A password manager is the perfect solution to this problem. You only need to remember a single secure password — the master password to the manager itself. Once you log in, it takes care of the rest, generating strong passwords for your accounts and automatically filling them in. The best password managers work across multiple platforms, making it safe and easy to log in on any device.

The single most obvious sign of hacker activity is having your password changed without your knowledge, although not all criminals are willing to reveal their presence so easily. Another common sign is seeing a sudden influx of password reset requests from linked accounts — the hackers may be exploiting the password recovery feature of many websites to penetrate deeper into your digital life.

You should also check your outbox for new sent messages that you don’t remember writing. Criminals can use a compromised account in social engineering attacks to fool friends, colleagues, and even financial institutions.