If there was a way to look at how many records have been exposed in data breaches, would you want to see it?
Unfortunately, news about massive corporations suffering data breaches has become the norm in this digital age.
According to research by done Tenable, the Cyber Exposure company, “At least 40,417,167,937 records were exposed worldwide in 2021, calculated by Tenable’s Security Response Team’s analysis of 1,825 breach data incidents publicly disclosed between November 2020 and October 2021.”
Every other week it seems another company has had another couple million records exposed, and at this point it becomes difficult to track. Well thankfully, there’s a site that does it for you. Although it is kind of scary to see a put together list of how much data has been exposed, it can also be very helpful. This chart allows you to sort by industry and methods of how the data was leaked and gives an easy visual representation model to show you the amount of records lost in a given breach. Check it out to see if there is an organization that has your personal information.
If you do see a company or website you use or HAVE used in the past on that list, here are some steps to take to protect yourself.
- First off, check to see exactly what was exposed in the breach. You may have to do your own research and look up the company’s statement on what was exposed if the interactive chart doesn’t state it.
If it only says email, phone numbers, or addresses were exposed – don’t worry. This information, for the most part, cannot be used on its own to harm you. Not to mention that this information is likely already out there on a number of different sites on the web, but that’s a different story.
Now if something like passwords, usernames, and other sensitive information relating to your account were exposed – this is where you can take action. If you can, simply update the exposed information.
- The next step would be to continuously monitor any information connected to this account
Remove and then replace any Credit/Debit cards connected to the account, and if you haven’t already (which you should) monitor transactions linked to those cards as well.
Check your inbox for any emails/notifications/password changes that you receive. However, you need to view these with an extra layer of caution – This leads into our next step.
- Be wary of any emails or phone calls received from the breached company.
In the event that you are involved in a breach, the company is going to notify you. The thing is -bad guys know this and take advantage of it.
If you do receive an email from the company, do NOT click on any links or call any numbers provided. Validate or Eliminate. Call the company directly and verify that they sent that email out. You can also try to log in to your online account and see if they’ve sent you notifications there as well. If you can not prove that the email is verifiable, either eliminate it or mark it and save it until you can validate it.
So, wrapping this up, if you don’t have a general idea of how many records have been exposed, check out the infographic to learn how public a lot of our information already is. Be sure to check back every once in a while for updates and keep an eye out for any breaches with corporations that you are connected to.
Resources:
Data Breach InfoGraphic https://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/worlds-biggest-data-breaches-hacks/
Tenable – Cyber Exposure Company https://www.tenable.com/press-releases/tenable-research-reveals-over-40-billion-records-were-exposed-in-2021
