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Check if your accounts were in a data breach
Find out whether your email address has turned up in known data breaches and get a simple, ordered plan to secure the accounts that matter.
When to use it
Now, then whenever you get a breach alert
Step by step
Check your email address
Visit the free site Have I Been Pwned and enter your email address. You can also sign up there to be emailed if it appears in a future breach.
List the breaches found
Write down the name of each breached site and what was exposed (for example email, passwords, phone numbers). Don't paste any actual passwords anywhere.
Get an action plan
Paste the list (site names and exposed data only) into your AI assistant with this prompt.
Prompt to copyMy email appeared in these data breaches: [site name - data exposed - year]. I don't use a password manager yet [change if you do]. Give me a prioritised action plan: 1) which accounts to secure first and why, 2) step-by-step what to do for each (change password, turn on two-step verification, check recovery details), 3) scams I should watch for given what was exposed, 4) how to set up a password manager in simple steps. Don't ask me for any passwords.Work through the list
Start with your email, banking and anything that stores payment details. Tick items off in your notes app as you go.
What you get
Priority 1: your email account - it's the key to resetting everything else. Change the password and turn on two-step verification. Priority 2: the shopping site (2021 breach exposed passwords) - change it, and anywhere you reused it. Watch for: fake delivery texts using your phone number.
Tips
- Never type a password into an AI chat. Genuine services will never ask you to share one there.