If you’re worried that your email address may have been hacked or exposed in a data breach, you can use services like Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) to check. HIBP helps you find out if your personal information was part of a breach by scanning compromised data from past leaks.
What is a “Breach”?
A breach occurs when data from a system is exposed, typically due to vulnerabilities or poor security. HIBP collects information from these breaches, allowing you to see if your email address or personal data has been compromised.
How to Check if Your Email Has Been Hacked
To check if your email has been compromised:
- Visit the Have I Been Pwned website.
- Enter your email address into the search box.
- Click “Pwned?” to search the database.
- Review the results to see if your email was found in any data breaches.
How Does HIBP Work?
HIBP gathers data from known breaches and makes it searchable. If your email appears in a breach, the site will show details of the breach, including what data was exposed (e.g., email address, passwords, usernames).
Are Passwords Stored on HIBP?
No. HIBP does not store passwords. When checking if your email was part of a breach, only the email address is searched. However, you can use the Pwned Passwords service to see if a password has been exposed in past breaches, but passwords are securely hashed with SHA-1, and no personal data is associated with them.
Can HIBP Send Users Their Exposed Passwords?
No. HIBP does not send passwords to users due to security risks. The service only checks if an email or password has been exposed.
Are Email Lists or Usernames Publicly Available?
HIBP does not provide lists of email addresses or usernames. Only individual email addresses can be searched. If you’re authorized, you can use the domain search feature to check multiple emails on a domain.
What is a “Paste”?
A “paste” refers to data shared on public websites like Pastebin. Hackers often use these platforms to share stolen information anonymously. HIBP monitors pastes to detect potentially compromised emails.
What to Do if Your Email is Found in a Breach:
- Change your passwords immediately, especially if you use the same password across multiple sites.
- Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for added security.
- Regularly check if your email is exposed using services like HIBP.
By regularly monitoring your accounts and updating your security measures, you can protect your data from unauthorized access and breaches.
Does the fact that my email was not found mean that I haven’t been
pwned?
While HIBP is kept as up-to-date as possible, it only contains a small
subset of all the records that have been breached over the years. Many
breaches do not result in the public release of data, and many breaches go
completely undetected. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,”
which means that just because your email address wasn’t found here doesn’t
mean it wasn’t compromised in another breach.
