A set of one billion records of personal data was leaked: Here’s what you need to watch out for

This is not a classic “hacking” in the sense that someone cracked the password, but the database was misplaced and accessible from the outside. When this happens, it attacksč He often does not have to “break” anything, but only access the data because the door was left open. Such databases usually contain combinations of data that can be misused for fraud, such as name and surname, date of birth, address, e-mail, phone number and various marks from documents.

The biggest problem is that such a combination facilitates identity theft and targeted ‘phishing’, i.e. fake messages or emails that look like they come from a bank or a well-known company and try to get you to click on a link or enter data. When fraudsters have your real information, the message seems more convincing, so there is a greater chance that someone will fall for it.

It is particularly annoying that many companies do not do the identity verification themselves, but order it from specialized suppliers. This means that a hole in one company can affect users of several different applications, from financial services to various platforms that require account verification.

If you’ve ever done such an identity check, it makes sense to increase your vigilance in the coming weeks. Watch out for messages that ask for ‘urgent’ confirmation, payment or click, especially if they come from private addresses or numbers. Include two-factor protection wherever you can, it’s an additional check at login, eg a code from the app, not just a password. And if you receive a notification about a login attempt or password change that you didn’t ask for, act immediately, change your password and check your security settings.

Reports say the database was closed after the warning, but that doesn’t eliminate the risk, because if someone downloaded the data while it was available, it could end up in fraud circles. That is why it is realistic to expect more attempts at fake calls, messages and emails that refer to your name or some ‘detail’ to sound convincing.