A Data Breach is one of those terms on the WWW where it can range from relatively tame information, all the way to serious Security hazards. Not to mention the consequences are dire regardless of it’s size. However, the most recent Data Breach that has occurred is possibly one of the biggest compilation breaches of ALL TIME.
You haven’t heard of the Data Breach?
Strangely enough, this hasn’t had much coverage maybe due to it being recent, which is why we’re talking about it! Awareness is always crucial in situations like these. Especially if one of your passwords is on that big list.
Labelled as “rockyou2024”, this bombshell was dropped via a forum, the user? ObamaCare. I can’t honestly say that’s very surprising, it wasn’t long ago now that classified US Military documents were leaked over Discord to prove a point while gaming.
While there’s some old passwords from previous breaches on there, some new ones are sure to be included too. Regardless, it also puts a ton of sensitive info on one document for any malicious user to abuse. It’s like they’ve just been handed a more organised database for them to test. Worrying times indeed!
It goes without saying this should be a concern for everyone, as this is obviously isn’t just a company breach, it’s a mega-list of individual user passwords.
What Do I Do Now??
My first and best recommendation would be to test your password as soon as you can. You can do this on plenty of sites, here’s one that I’ve just used for this blog.
As you can see, you simply enter your password(s) and it’ll tell you if it’s on their database of breached records. You can imagine my relief when it said it’s not on there. However, this goes without saying, just because this particular website doesn’t have it on its records, doesn’t mean another doesn’t. Plus, if you’re not going to use that website, be careful. Plenty of scammers and malicious users will create fake phishing sites like this. So you’d be practically handing them your password by entering it in.
Another recommendation would be to simply change your password. I know, it’s annoying. But, it’s safe Cyber Security practice, which we recommend, to at least change your password monthly regardless.
Conclusion
Well, I think the lesson to learn here is to always expect the unexpected online. But more importantly, to take your Password Security seriously. You might feel some level of confidence from the probability of someone targeting you out of almost 10 billion passwords. However, you have to remember that it won’t just be one person trying to surf those passwords, in reality, it won’t take long before a good chunk of them have been tested.
The consequences of your account being breached is dangerous, especially if you’re using the same password for multiple things, and I’d say that’s worth going through the irritation of remembering a new password.
But that’s enough serious-talk for the day. We hope you’ve liked this blog and that you’ll stick around to see our future releases. We cover everything from recent IT News to Knowledgebase articles. Thanks for reading!
