Data breach

A data breach happens when information is accessed or stolen from an organization without permission. Breaches can expose names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, passwords, payment details or health records. They happen through hacking, misconfigured servers, stolen employee logins or insiders. As an individual, you cannot stop a company from being breached, but you can limit the damage. Use a unique password for every account so a breach at one site cannot unlock others, and turn on MFA. Free services like Have I Been Pwned let you check whether your email appears in known breaches. Stolen breach data often feeds credential stuffing attacks.