How to Check if Your Email Was in a Data Breach

How to Check if Your Email Was in a Data Breach

Companies get breached all the time, and the leaked lists of emails and passwords end up being traded and reused by criminals. You can't stop a breach at a company you signed up with years ago, but you can find out whether your details were in one and close the door before anyone uses them.

This takes about 10 minutes.

Step 1: Search Your Email on Have I Been Pwned

Have I Been Pwned (haveibeenpwned.com) is a free service that collects the details of known public data breaches and lets you search them.

1. Go to haveibeenpwned.com (type it yourself rather than clicking a link in an email).
2. Enter your email address and search.
3. The result lists each breach your address appeared in, with the date and what data leaked: email addresses, names, phone numbers, passwords, dates of birth and so on.

Search every email address you use, including old ones you still have access to.

Get alerts: select Notify me and confirm the email it sends you. You'll then get an email if your address shows up in a future breach.

Step 2: Check Your Saved Passwords

Your password manager or browser can compare your saved passwords against known leaked passwords:

• Google Password Manager (Chrome and Android): open passwords.google.com and choose Checkup. It flags compromised, reused and weak passwords.
• Microsoft Edge: Settings > Passwords (in some versions Settings > Profiles > Passwords), where Password Monitor shows leaked passwords.
• iPhone, iPad and Mac: open the Passwords app (on older versions, Settings > Passwords) and check Security recommendations.
• Other password managers (1Password, Bitwarden and others) have similar breach or "watchtower" reports.

Step 3: Read What Actually Leaked

The breach details matter:

• Only your email address: expect more spam and phishing. No password change is strictly needed, but stay alert.
• Password (even "hashed"): change the password for that site and for every other account where you used the same password. Criminals try leaked email-and-password pairs on other sites automatically.
• Phone number or date of birth: watch for scam calls and texts that use those details to sound convincing.
• Payment or ID details: follow the breached company's notice, check your bank statements, and contact your bank if anything looks wrong.

Step 4: Fix the Accounts That Matter Most

Start with the accounts that can unlock everything else:

1. Your main email account. Whoever controls it can reset your other passwords.
2. Banking and payment accounts (PayPal, card apps).
3. Your Microsoft, Google or Apple account.
4. Shopping and social media accounts.

For each one:

• Set a long, unique password. A password manager makes this practical.
• Turn on two-step verification. See how to turn on two factor authentication for Google, Microsoft and Apple.
• Review recent sign-in activity and connected devices, and sign out of anything you don't recognize.
• Check that the recovery email and phone number are yours. Attackers sometimes change these first.
• In your email, check for forwarding rules you didn't create.

Step 5: Expect Phishing That Uses the Leak

After a breach, scammers send emails that mention the breach, your name or even an old password to make the message believable. Some claim to have "hacked your camera" and demand payment, quoting a leaked password as "proof". An old leaked password doesn't mean anyone has access to your device.

• Don't click links in emails about a breach. Go to the company's website yourself.
• Never pay or reply to extortion emails.
• See how to spot a phishing email before you click.

Step 6: Keep It From Hurting You Next Time

• One password per site. A breach at one company then affects only that account.
• Two-step verification or passkeys on important accounts.
• Use email aliases for shopping and newsletters if your email provider supports them.
• Delete accounts you no longer use, so there's less data to leak.

What If Someone Already Got Into an Account?

If you see sign-ins you don't recognize, emails you didn't send, or you've been locked out:

1. Use the provider's official account recovery page (typed into the browser yourself).
2. Change the password and sign out all sessions.
3. Turn on two-step verification.
4. Tell your contacts not to trust recent messages from you if the account was used to send scams.
5. If money or ID documents are involved, contact your bank and report the fraud to your country's official fraud reporting service.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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See Also:data breach passwords security