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HAS ONE OF YOUR PASSWORDS BEEN COMPROMISED? HERE’S HOW TO FIND OUT, AND HOW TO STOP THE DAMAGE.

PASSWORDS ARE A big issue for security. They’re the keys to your accounts, yes, but imagine that someone had swiped a copy of your house key without you knowing: they’d be able to get in whenever they liked until you wised up and changed the locks. If one of the services you use online has had some kind of password breach – perhaps their own security was not strong enough, or a hacker stumbled upon a master key – the problem could be even worse than that. Your credentials could be floating around any number of illicit communities, your house keys copied and handed out to every ne’er do well in the dark corners of the pub. But how would you know?

First of all, you’ll need to keep a close eye on your incoming emails. If any service you’ve used has been struck by a data breach, they’ll normally send a big apology and ask you to reset your password, which you should absolutely do. All being well, that affected service will use this misstep as an opportunity to sure up its defences, and your new password

will be better protected. You can also try checking directly. The service Have I Been Pwned ( https://haveibeenpwned.com), run by Microsoft regional director Troy Hunt, keeps its nose to the ground on major data breaches, and includes a way to search for the appearance of your email address in any of them. Google has recently started to offer a similar service in the form of Password Checkup, which has been integrated into the Google Passwords service at passwords.google.com.

The last step is the most critical. Never reuse a password on more than one service. Do this, and a data breach on one would mean your account credentials could potentially let attackers into any of your other accounts. Google Passwords can help you generate super-secure passwords and remember them on your behalf, and there are stack of other services out there (LastPass, Dashlane, et al) which can do the same. If you’re offered the option of using two-step authentication for any service, use it – that second layer of protection could also alert you to a loose password.