Dropbox, Yahoo, Adobe, Sony: You always read about stolen passwords. Are yours there too?
As our cooperation partner checked4you explains, it's a daily game of cat and mouse: hackers attack databases of large companies, sometimes cracking them and stealing users' email addresses or usernames and passwords. Shortly afterwards, they publish it on the Internet so that others can also use the data for illegal activities.
Example Dropbox: In August 2016, all users were asked to change their passwords. Because 68 million user data (email addresses including passwords) appeared on the Internet. They were probably captured in a hacker attack in 2012.
Then you ask yourself: is my data included?
There are sites where you can check this. We would like to introduce you to three of them:
| BSI security test | HPI Identity Leak Checker | Have I been pwned? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| operator | Federal Office for Security in Information Technology | Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) at the University of Potsdam | Troy Hunt, Internet security expert and blogger |
| Language of the page | German | German | English |
| Here's how it works | Enter your email address in the search field. Only if the email address entered is affected will you receive an email with recommendations for further action. | Enter your email address in the search field. You will then receive an email in which you can read whether login details with your email address have been published on the Internet. | Enter your email address or username in the search field. The page then shows whether login details with your details have been published on the Internet. |
| Info about which accounts the data comes from? | No | Partially | Yes |
| Data sets (according to the operator) | 30 million, updates as needed | > 5 billion, updates as needed | > 5 billion, updates as needed |
| address | sicherheitstest.bsi.de | sec.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/leak-checker/search | haveibeenpwned.com |
What you should pay attention to with such services
Before using such services, you should make sure that:
- the providers are reputable (i.e. have a corresponding reputation and have, for example, meaningful FAQs or a data protection declaration on the site),
- Your entered data will not be stored in order to resell it or use it for other purposes,
- Your data will not be stored longer than it takes to compare the databases.
What to do if your data has been published
- Change the password of the affected accounts immediately.
- a secure password .
- If you use the same password elsewhere, be sure to change it there too! It is best to use a separate password for each account.
- If possible: activate two-factor login. Many people already offer this: For example, you enter a cell phone number and you will receive an SMS with a code every time you try to log in. Only when you type it in will you be able to access your account.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

