Category: How To

Check If Your Email Address Has Been Compromised

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If you want to know if your email address has been compromised in one of the large scale data breaches that you  see in the news, then this website will check for you.

www.haveibeenpwned.com

The guy who created this website is Troy Hunt, a Microsoft Regional Director who is well known and highly regarded in the Internet security world.

  1. Why did Troy build the site?
  2. Troy says “This site provides a service to the public. Data breaches are rampant and people don’t appreciate the scale or frequency with which they occur. By aggregating the data here, I hope that it not only helps victims learn of compromises of their accounts, but also highlights the severity of the risks of online attacks on today’s Internet”.

A “breach” is an incident where a hacker illegally obtains data from a vulnerable system, usually by exploiting weaknesses in the software. All of the data in the haveibeenpwned website comes from website breaches which have been made publicly available.

There’s an option on the site to sign up to be notified if your email address comes up in a later breach.

  1. What to do if your email details have been compromised?
  2. This doesn’t necessarily mean that someone has your password but you should check and take precautions.
  • Change the password for the account
  • Change the password for any other account that has the same password
  • Review whether to shut down the relevant accounts and whether there has been any suspicious activity on those accounts ( if there is money involved).

You should always use strong passwords so if you have any less than strong passwords do update them on all relevant accounts.

A Magic Phone Number and Call Blocking

old style telephone

The Magic Phone Number
When buying something online or registering online there is usually a form to fill in of your details and quite often this insists on your telephone number even though you know it’s not needed.
This is annoying, plus, you wonder what they will do with your phone number. Will they sell it or give it to third parties?, resulting in phone calls you don’t want.

As the forms usually check the number is in the correct format, you need a real phone number to input.

You can use 0333 88 88 88 88 (the last 8 doesn’t matter if the form only allows 11 digits.)
When, they call, those cold call culprits will hear a short recorded message:-

“trueCall38 is handling my calls. I prefer not to be contacted by phone, so please contact me via my email address.  Goodbye!”
Problem solved.

Do companies block this number from being entered in the form?   No, but if they do then Trucall38 have a display page “Wall of Shame” but none has done so thus far.
Q. Why do companies ask for your phone number?
They rarely really need it, and you don’t know what they are going to do with it. Interestingly, experts say that asking for a phone number can reduce the number of people who complete an online form by 25%. That’s a big loss.

Of course, some companies sell their customers phone numbers on to other companies, so you don’t know who’ll get your number.
Call Blocking
The business behind the website trucall38.com have developed a call blocking device called Trucall that is reported to have been 95% successful in blocking nuisance calls. The technology has been licensed to BT and is incorporated in their BT8500 phone.
Trucall claim that half a million people in the UK are now protected from nuisance phone calls by their technology.

The guys behind Truecall say “We thought that everyone should have the opportunity to opt out of handing over their phone number unless they wanted to, so we launched the trueCall38 number – a completely free service”.
If you don’t want someone to have your phone number – tell them 0333 88 88 88 88

Confuse the Cold Caller

Confused Cold Caller

Cold callers have a script to follow – a set of questions and expected answers.

If you behave unexpectedly – they don’t know what to do and will often give up i.e. put the phone down.

There are endless things you can do to confuse them, such as

  1. Keep a take-away menu by the phone and start reading it out – place an order and ignore anything they say – just keep reading it out. E.g. I’d like to order 3 spring rolls followed by the Peking Duck with egg fried rice and 2 portions of crispy noodles and some of that seaweed stuff, plus … and so on.
  2. Say ‘I don’t speak English’ to whatever they ask until they put the phone down.
  3. Invent your own religion and try hard to convert them. I’m glad you called today as I have the good news of the 3rd coming of Quixacoatl to tell you about. Now, Quixacoatl created the earth in 5 minutes and he’s due back tomorrow to collect all of the believers. And so on.
  4. Say Thank you for calling the PPI hotline – we can get your thousands of pounds back. I just need you name, address and bank details first. You’ll hear the phone slam down

Any unexpected behaviour will do the trick – so confuse them.

How To Stop Cold Callers by Threatening Legal Action

Remember, they called you uninvited – there is no need to be polite. These people can be the bane of your life with repeated calls.

Refer them to non-existent legislation that they may be breaking. Anything that doesn’t follow their script is disconcerting to a cold caller and an authoritative voice warning them of law breaking should stop them immediately.

For example,

My number is registered with the telephone preference service. By calling me you are breaking section 117 of the Telecommunications Act 2012. You are personally liable to a fine of up to £5,000 for a first offence or imprisonment for further offences.

I suggest you get your bags packed.

Goodbye.

This is not true of course – it is just intended to stop the cold caller from pestering you.

How To Use Email Safely

Safety First
Safety First

There are many things you can do to prevent scam emails causing you problems. The main thing is just to be vigilant. Here are a few ways to be safe.

General

  • Most Microsoft and other email clients come with spam filtering as standard. Ensure yours is switched on.
  • Most spam and junk filters can be set to allow email to be received from trusted sources, and blocked from untrusted sources.
  • Do not open emails which you suspect as being spam.

Unknown Sender

  • Do not respond to emails from unknown sources.
  • Do not open attachments from unknown sources.

Links in the Email

  • Do not readily click on links in emails from unknown sources. Instead, roll your mouse pointer over the link to reveal its true destination, displayed in the bottom left corner of your screen. Beware if this is different from what is displayed in the text of the link from the email.
  • Sometimes emails have an Unsubscribe link. If the email is from a reputable organisation then you can click on that if you wish to avoid further emails from them. But if the email is from an unknown sender then beware clicking on Unsubscribe as it may just be a method to get a reply from you.

Do not make purchases or charity donations in response to spam email.

Remember – stay vigilant.