ChatterBank1 min ago
Password Data Leak
When I signed in to AB a notice came up ....this password has appeared in a data leak please change it now. How does this happen?
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by Giggsie. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.It's a feature that Apple has built into the operating system on its devices and which many web browsers for Windows also have too.
When you enter your password (e.g. 'mickeymouse') your device/browser sends it to a database of all known passwords that have been hacked somewhere in the past. So, for example, a user of a South African website selling coffee beans (which then got hacked) might have also used 'mickeymouse' as his/her password, resulting in that password appearing in the database. [i.e. the fact that your password is in the database has absolutely nothing to do with you or any of your online accounts].
It DOESN'T mean that your AB account (or any other account used by you) has been hacked. However, since hackers know that many people will choose the same passwords (such as 'pass123', 'elvispresley' or 'mickeymouse') it's warning you that a hacker might get into your account by using a 'brute force' attack (where thousands of common passwords are tried, one after another).
As hackers aren't generally interesting in websites where no financial transactions take place, there's no great risk in having an AB password that's been hacked elsewhere in cyberspace. However if you see such a message when signing into, say, Amazon, it would be sensible to change your password in order to prevent a hacker's 'brute force' attack allowing him/her get into your account.
Related Questions
Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.