If you’ve ever been notified that “this password has appeared in a data leak”, it can be pretty terrifying. This is mainly because most people have no idea what it means, and any mention of the word leak suggests that it’s probably bad news.
The good news though is that it’s actually quite easy to deal with the data leak message on your iPhone – here’s what you should do to tighten up your iPhone security.
Data leak iPhone
If you receive the message that your password has appeared in a data leak, there may be a chance it has been compromised. What does this mean exactly?
It’s likely that you’ve been using the same password for multiple different accounts online – most of us will use the same password across dozens of accounts.
And, one of these accounts has become compromised, and your compromised passwords have been published online.
This could mean that your online accounts have been hacked too, but Apple gives us no information as to where the data leaks have been published, so it’s hard to say.
A data leak can make you vulnerable to ransomware attacks by hackers. It usually means that someone has gained unauthorized access to one of your accounts.
What should you do?
If you receive this message, there’s a good chance that nothing will ever come of it.
However, if you want to be safe then you need your password changed quickly. Just make sure to provide your own password for the application and platform and not use an automated password, or one you’ve using before.
Changing your password immediately is a good way to deal with this data breach – just make sure to avoid reused and weak passwords, and follow the security recommendations too.
How to Prevent Data Leaks
So, your user’s account was found to be vulnerable to hacks due to a data leak – but most of us follow standard practice when it comes to using passwords only.
If you want to prevent data leaks in the future, there’s a couple of things you can do to ensure leaked passwords don’t affect you moving forward.
Use password managers with caution
You can use password management systems to manage your passwords, as they’re simply tools that allows users to easily store and retrieve a password without reusing multiple passwords.
The browser includes password management in all major browsers. In addition, there is a variety of other third-party software for the management of the passwords, such as LastPass.
These systems store a single master password that is secured via strong encryption techniques such as hashing. Though these are usually a good idea, you do need to make sure you’re using the right one.
If you use the wrong password manager, you could expose yourself to data leaks. Making sure they have end to end encryption and use unique passwords should prevent this from happening.
Keep your software up to date
Vulnerabilities are often encountered daily, and they require rapid software development for security purposes.
But, you need to install these updates on your device if you want to keep the software up to date, so you should make sure that each update is installed immediately.
A computer hacking attack more serious and costly, so keeping all of your tools and softwares up to date is a good idea if you want to reduce the chance of identity theft and known data leaks.
Change your password regularly
Most app and service providers require that you update your password every now and then, as this can help to provide maximum protection of the account.
Those who do not go along with this are potentially making themselves vulnerable to a data leak.
If there are any data breaches, doing this will ensure that you’re always changing your password before it is leaked, and hence your account will be safe.
Delete Inactive Accounts
Account users who no longer use it may be targeted by cybercriminals, because their security protection will probably get less and less over time.
Old accounts on different services often become vulnerable, so deleting your old unused accounts can help decrease your vulnerabilities.
This password is easy to guess
Hackers have become sophisticated, and the truth is that weak passwords can be easily cracked by hackers.
Because of this, it’s essential that you use a long password that’s a mix of numbers and letters when creating new passwords.
This stops hackers from using tools that can crack short passwords quickly – this is called brute force hacking, which tries multiple passwords until it finds the right one.
Conclusion
You’ve likely come to this article after receiving the data leak message, which is unfortunately pretty confusing for most people.
The good news is that you can usually fix this by simply changing your password, and you can prevent data leaks on my phone in the future by making sure that you keep your password safe.