Data breach: How to check if your personal details are compromised and what to do to stay safe

There have been several reported news stories recently regarding alleged leaked databases, affecting the personal details of Malaysians. The breaches affected companies like TM—involving 250,000 Unifi Mobile customers, Carousell—affecting 2.6 million users, AirAsia—allegedly leaked due to ransomware, and Maybank‘s recent case.

But with this recent rise of reported breaches, we can assume that our personal data are no longer private. So, what can we do to stay safe?

Check if your data has been compromised

The first thing you can do is check and see if your own personal data has been compromised. You can do so through HaveIBeenPwned.com—a site that lets you do so by typing in your email or phone number.

If you do find out that your email or number has been compromised, you can check on the same site for what kind of breach you were “pwned” in.

Change your passwords

So, let’s say that you found out that your account has been compromised. You should start by changing your passwords—and take note of passwords that are not changed for more than 12 months.

HaveIBeenPwned recommends you use a password manager like 1Password—although that specific one is a paid service. You can opt for the Google Password Manager or BitWarden if you need examples of easy free ones to use.

And it also is recommended that you use different passwords for different platforms. Because if one platform has a data breach and didn’t encrypt the password, it will be harder for them to try the same username and password on other platforms.

Be wary of scams and phishing tactics

Scammers who bought extensive databases of personal details can easily come out with clever phishing tactics impersonating banks, government agencies, or even the police as they have your name, IC number, phone number, and full address.

So, here’s a reminder to be wary of phishing scams—through email, SMSes, calls, and other methods. Never click on links from email and SMS. If there’s a call, put it down immediately if you’re suspicious, and before you do anything like share extra details or perform a transaction, hang up and contact the bank, providers, or government agency through official channels.

If you still need help looking out for scams, you can check out what actual scammers have told me when they tried to scam me for money. And since scams can take a few days, weeks, and even years, you might be in the middle of a scam without even knowing it—so it’s always good to look through what you can learn from it.

You could also dial 997 if you’ve been a victim of a scam. Victims are urged to report within 24 hours so that Bank Negara Malaysia can stop the outflow of funds. Fahmi Fadzil said scam activities could fund the black economy, which can be used to purchase drugs and weapons and are a huge security threat.

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Related reading

• You’re probably being scammed but haven’t realised it yet. Here’s what to look out for
• I tried to create scam ads on Facebook. Here’s what happened