Spam Emails to Identify Theft

[jetho1680]

This morning I contacted a Government Dept to report a scam email that appeared to come from “mygov”

I was fortunate to speak with a person who was very helpful and explained in detail how a scam first starts from when there is a digital breach of a server or from just about anywhere on the net where a person has entered email addresses, personal information etc,  which can result in anywhere from spam and scam emails to full identity theft and often will happen long after a breach has happened.

I was given a web site address, entered my email address and it showed the details of  2 breaches had happened earlier in the year and two months apart. It was suggested  that I change my passwords if they are the same at the time breaches occurred as a precautionary measure.

Web address  

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Passwords can be checked for breaches and recommends changing or not to use them.

[wide-world-of-stamps]

Not just the other side of town, but hundreds of kilometres away!

Quite often not even in the same state.

[imastawka]

Has anybody actually thought about telling their computer their location in settings?

[davewil1964]

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@imastawka wrote:

Has anybody actually thought about telling their computer their location in settings?

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I am quite happy not to.

[wide-world-of-stamps]

No, it isn't necessary for my computer (and different websites) to know.

Also, it's quite amusing to see where I'm supposedly situated at times.

Just like a virtual tour of Australia.

[domino-710]

Last I looked - hello - I live next door. lol

[imastawka]

Wish I lived next door.

The house is much nicer and I'd have better neighbours   hahahahaha

[the_great_she_elephant]

I checked out You Have Been Pwned. It seems to have a universal tick of approval from tech. sites.

https://computing.which.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/115005168849-What-to-do-if-you-ve-been-pwned

The best known site for checking if your email address, or any account associated with it, has been hacked, is called Have I Been Pwned.

Here, you can enter your email address (safely) and the site will check it against multiple data breach records. If your account details were included in one of those breaches, you'll be told the bad news that you've been 'pwned'.

To find out if your own email address has been affected by a data breach, head to the Have I Been Pwned website. You’ll need to enter your email address here – don’t worry, there’s no security threat to doing so, and you’ll never be asked to enter a password or other personal data.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-websites-for-finding-out-if-youve-been-hacked/

Have I Been Pwned is one of the oldest, most popular, and best sites in the game. The site works hard to track down breaches, verify them as legitimate, and catch data so you can check it out.

https://cybersecurity.osu.edu/cybersecurity-you/avoid-threats/have-i-been-pwned

If a company you have an account with has suffered a data breach it’s possible your email may have been pwned, which means your email and password for that site’s account has been exposed to cybercriminals. haveibeenpwned.com(link is external) is a website that checks if an account has been compromised.

[jetho1680]

NSW Drivers Licences exposed on Amazon's Cloud Service.

Names, photos, birth dates and addresses of 54000 drivers revealed.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-01/nsw-drivers-licence-data-breach-under-investigation/12611918