Unfortunately, any sense of security which we have in our online life has been shattered by revelation after revelation of major websites being hacked, and our usernames, passwords, personal information being shared with anyone and everyone who may be interested.
One of the most unsettling aspects of this trend is the fact we often don’t hear of the breaches in security until well after the fact. Case in point, the revelation that DropBox, was hacked in 2012, with the public only becoming aware of the severity of the attack in late 2016! What can one do, when one learns that their personal information was compromised four years ago? How much damage was done, in four years?
We will never know the answer those questions, and if we had any remnants of trust that our personal information is safe in the hands of any institution, is now long gone.
However, we still half to share information create accounts and communicate to exist in this online world. So, responsibility for our security falls to us as individuals.
If you’re concerned that your email address has been compromised, which is most likely has if you’ve been using it for any length of time, you can discover which public attacks have shared your login, or other information, by visiting the site. https://haveibeenpwned.com/
Consider this a stern reminder that practicing good password management and privacy protection is a 24/7/365 practice.