Last week I blogged about my Evernote account being hacked. I reached out to some tech savvy colleagues for advice and wanted to share something with you that might be helpful.
An IT engineer recommended that I check my email accounts for hacks by visiting https://haveibeenpwned.com
That’s not a typo – it is pwned and not owned!
Enter your email address on the page and click pwned?
I have several email accounts and I entered all of them to check. I was surprised to find that one had been breached. It was a government site from last summer that I use for genealogy research. I changed the password on that site and just to be more secure, changed my email password.
While changing my password I had another “Aha!” moment; I never took the time to really check out my email Security settings. The devices I have connected to the email are shown but I had to pause at the Third-party apps with account access. My bad for not reading the small print and clicking “I accept” when visiting an organization’s website! I had given permission unknowingly to two retail organizations to have access to my calendar and contacts. It was quite easy to disable that! I’ve begun my holiday shopping so after I’m done, I plan on rechecking my email account to see if I somehow give permission for access that is unwarranted.
Just like covid, behind the scene activity to your tech tools can maliciously effect you! Take a few minutes to check it out and stay safe!