How to Protect Yourself After a Massive Corporate Hack

It happened again.

Another big company who has your personal information,

like passwords or credit card numbers,

got hacked.

Which means, in a way, that you also got hacked,

or at least, some of your most sensitive information

is now just floating around the internet

waiting for a hacker or identity thief to make

your life miserable.

The most frustrating part of these breaches,

whether they affect 70 million people like

the 2014 Target hack,

or 143 million like the recent Equifax bungle,

or 500 million like a recently disclosed Yahoo hack,

or a billion people like yet another Yahoo attack,

is that there is nothing you can do to prevent them.

Other than becoming an internet hermit,

so that no one has your info in the first place.

As nice as that sounds, it's also totally impractical.

But don't give up hope.

Even if you can't stop breaches from happening,

there are a few steps you can take in the aftermath

to limit your exposure.

First, check to see if you've been directly impacted.

There's a chance you dodged a bullet.

For the biggest breaches like Equifax,

companies will often set up a dedicated website

that crosschecks your info against impacted accounts.

You should also check out a site called

HaveIBeenPwned.com,

and yes that is the real name, I swear.

Go ahead and do it now, actually, 'cause security researcher

Troy Hunt has made his mission to collect info

from as many breaches as possible.

So far, it's like nearly five trillion accounts.

Have I Been Pwned shows you not just if you've

been impacted, but what kind of information is at risk.

So, you know, for instance,

exactly which passwords to change.

Speaking of which, if your info is caught up in a breach

change your passwords.

Not just for whichever company or service that leaked them,

but anywhere else you might reuse them.

And speaking of that, don't reuse passwords.

Just get a password manager instead, please.

If the breach potentially includes extra sensitive

information like credit card or social security numbers,

companies sometimes offer a year of free credit monitoring.

Go ahead and sign up for that.

It'll help you act fast in the even that

someone uses your info to try to open

a credit account in your name.

Just remember that the threat doesn't fade after a year,

especially in the most dramatic cases.

Social security numbers aren't like passwords,

they're really hard to change so keep a close

eye on your bank accounts.

Breaches are frustrating, and they're scary,

and there are so many of them it's easy

to just throw up your hands,

but it's worth a little vigilance to help

stave off the serious headaches that come

with having your identity stolen,

or your accounts taken over.