Privacy

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I am a victim of a data breach, what do I do? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by Maroon@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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I am an EU citizen and I was informed that my EURAXESS account was breached. They informed me that while the password wasn't stolen, all of my personal data including addresses, IDs from the CV was stolen and made available on some website.

They say that they're working towards making the site secure, etc., but I know that my personal info is out there. They have even told me to watch out for scams and phishing attempts over the next few months to come.

I am a bit shaken. Please tell me what steps I can take to gain back some control over this situation?

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[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 38 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Hey hey, you're an honorary American now! Your flag and genocide kit are in the mail (don't worry, we're pretty sure we got the right address from that darkweb database).

But for real there's not much you can do but keep an eye on it. If Europe has similar credit agencies to the ones in the US, then freeze your credit and keep it frozen until you need to apply for more (new card, car, house, etc).

Use a password manager so if an account gets compromised they can't get into anything else.

And, as advised, watch for unusual activity (but forever, not just a few months, that's just a false sense of security).

This should keep you largely safe. My data has been leaked in dozens of breaches, but I do the above, and while I've had two instances of card fraud, I don't see hard enquiries into my credit that I didn't make even after 6+ years.

[–] EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

And, as advised, watch for unusual activity (but forever, not just a few months, that’s just a false sense of security).

Alternatively, pay a service (one that's actually reputable!!!*) to watch your shit for you. (Still keep an eye out, of course, but this at least takes a LOT of the load off.)

For example, I pay a 12.95 USD a month for a service provided by my credit union (way better than a bank) and I can input whatever information I want monitored. They do that and let me know as well if they detect any shit going down. They also give me an update email every month letting me know that something has changed (or, likewise, if nothing hasn't changed :) ).

I started doing this way back in 2018 when my wallet (containing my ID, debit card, social security card, everything) was stolen. (Gods, that was a fucking nightmare.)

*None of that LifeLock bullshit. AFAIK that's just marketing fluff mainly. (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on that.) In any case, I don't trust any service that is provided by the same fucking company that owns Norton. shudder