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Top 10 Email Data Breach & How to Avoid 2024

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Cody Walsh

Updated: Aug 30, 2021 09:15 am

20 views , 5 min read

Question:

How can I check if my email was exposed in a data breach?

In today's online world, cybersecurity is the biggest concern as cyber-attacks and data breaches are extremely common. You may have come across your email data breach in one of the data leaked events.

Are you still bewildered by email leaks?

Don't worry! In this article, we will explore the top 10 email data breach events and how you can check if your email is exposed in a data breach.

Part 1: Top 10 Email Data Breach Events

Here is the list of the biggest email data breach events in the history of the internet.

Yahoo

The most devastating email data breach event is that of Yahoo. Yahoo is one of the most popular email providers in the world. Just before the company was acquired by Verizon, Yahoo disclosed the data breach incident nearly three years after the incident. It is one of the reasons why Yahoo was acquired at such a low value.

Date Of Date Breach: August 2013

Impact Range: Estimated 3 billion accounts

Microsoft's Email Software

One of the recent email data breach events is that of Microsoft. Microsoft Exchange Server email software's security holes came to the limelight after the data breach was reported in early 2021. Thousands of enterprises using Microsoft's email software were affected, and their sensitive information got exposed. The data breach event was conducted by a Chinese espionage organization.

Date Of Date Breach: Early 2021

Impact Range: Estimated 30000 organizations

Peatix

Peatix is an extremely popular event organizing platform with over 4 million users. Towards the last 2020, a hacking group exposed data of nearly 4.2 million users publicly. These user data including email addresses and passwords were available on hacking forums, Instagram stories, and Telegram groups.

Date of Data Breach: Late 2020

Impact Range: Estimated 4.2 million users

 email data breach

Home Depot

Home Depot reported in Nov 2014 that they faced a data breach incident. Nearly 56 million card details were hacked, along with 53 million email addresses. The hackers used custom-built malware for the data breach on US and Canadian servers.

Date of Data Breach: September 2014

Impact Range: 53 million email addresses

Houzz

The popular home improvement platform Houzz reported about its data breach. The hacker group got access to the files containing user data, whereby 40 million users are affected. These data include email addresses, account credentials, addresses, card details, and even some have Facebook log in data.

Date of Data Breach: December 2018

Impact Range: Estimated 40 million users

Facebook Instagram and LinkedIn

The popular social media platforms could not prevent data breaches on their secured databases. The data breach attack happened on Socialarks which is a social media management company. Personal identifiable information of 214 million users of Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn were exposed. This includes email addresses, phone numbers, social account credentials, job profile, photos, and much more.

Date of Data Breach: January 2021

Impact Range: Estimated 214 million users

Volkswagen

The automaker's database was left unsecured and the hackers used the opportunity to grab the goldmine. The database contains all the personal and sensitive data of users who are their current customers as well as prospective buyers.

Date of Data Breach: June 2021

Impact Range: Estimated 3.3 million users

OneMoreLead

The most recent data breach event is that of OneMoreLoad. OneMoreLoad is a prospect finding company and they left their database unsecured. Naturally, the hackers easily got access to the database exposing email addresses, personal information, account credentials and much more.

Date of Data Breach: August 2021

Impact Range: Estimated 63 million users

Pixlr

Pixlr is a popular online platform for photo editing. In early 2021, the company reported about its data breach incident. The incident has exposed data of 2 million users. These data include email addresses, account passwords, personal data, and much more.

Date of Data Breach: Early 2021

Impact Range: Estimated 2 million users

Mimecast

Mimecast is a cybersecurity and email security provider, and hackers breached through their strong firewall. Though the company said that 36000 users are affected, the actual number could be extremely bigger. This includes small organizations, big companies, and high-profile individuals.

Date of Data Breach: Early 2021

Impact Range: Estimated 36000 users

Part 2: How Can I Check If My Email Was Exposed in a Data Breach

You need to take the help of a trusted app to check if your email was exposed in a data breach. ClevGuard Anti-Spyware is the best app we recommend you to install on your phone. It is one of the legitimate apps that let you check if your email was exposed in a data breach and provide detailed leak information. Most importantly, it also suggests your steps to upgrade the security of your email account to prevent such incidents in the future.

Steps to Use ClevGuard for Data Breach Email Search

Step 1: Click the following Play Store button and then tap on Install to download ClevGuard app. This lightweight app with low power consumption, so you don't need to worry about the memory space.

google play store button

Step 2: Open the app and tap on Email Breach tab at the bottom.

Step 3: On the next screen, tap on Try It Now button.

Step 4: Enter your email address and tap on Check Now button.

Step 5: On the next screen, you will see the result.

If your email was exposed, you will see "Your password was leaked". You will also see the leak details as well as what you should do now.

If not leaked, you will see "No leaks occur for your email address". You can take the steps suggested for tightening security of your email address.

Related Read: The Full Guide of ClevGuard

Other Important Features of ClevGuard Anti-Spyware App

  • Spyware Scanning – Spyware is one of the ways that lead to email leaks. You can scan your phone and find out if there is any spyware already installed. The result lists the security issues with your phone which you can resolve with a single tap.
  • Real-Time Protection – You can protect your phone from malicious files and apps as well as spyware all the time. The app alerts you as soon as it detects downloading of any suspicious item. When you turn on this function, you can avoid email breaches effectively.
  • App Audit – You can check the risks involved in any app and take action accordingly.
  • Junk Cleaning – You can clean your phone junk instantly with a single tap. Besides, you can clean junk for selective apps as well.
  • Apart from these, the app can also detect hidden apps. It will also notify you if any app is turning your camera or mic for spying.

Related Read: 7 Ways to Check If Your Phone is Cloned

Part 3: Bonus: What to Do if Your Email Account Gets Hacked

Now that we have stated the way to detect email and password data breach, here are the steps you should take immediately if your email account gets hacked.

Step 1: Scan For Spyware

Why is your email information being leaked?

The reason your email account has been hacked could be sitting on your phone. Hackers deploy spyware and keylogger on phones through malicious files and apps. These spyware and keylogger record your activities and keystrokes and send them to the hacker's server. Hackers analyze them and find out your email address and password as well as credentials of other online accounts.

That is why you need to run a scan and detect spyware presence. You can use your antivirus app for scanning if you already have one on your phone.

However, it will recommend you ClevGuard Anti-Spyware for thorough scanning and detection as well as instant deletion. Besides, you are getting email data breach notifications through the app which is the most important requirement these days.

google play store button

Step 2: Change Email Address's Password

After you get rid of spyware and keylogger, you should change the password of your email address. If it is exposed but not hacked, then you can change the password easily. However, if it is hacked, then it is most likely that you cannot log in and change your password.

You need to opt for forgot password option and give proof that you are the real owner of the email address. The proof includes answering security questions, verification code sent to your phone number, or whatever options provided by your email provider.

Otherwise, you can contact the email provider directly and ask them to recover your account on your behalf after necessary verification.

Step 3: Turn on Two-Factor Authentication

If not already, you should turn on two-factor authentication. Once it is turned on, even if the hacker gets your email address and password, he cannot hack it.

This is because when you have two-factor authentication turned on, you have to enter a verification code sent to your phone number.

It is not possible for hackers to get that code without physical access to your phone, especially in the absence of any spyware.

Step 4: Change Security Questions

Every email provider asks the users to set certain security questions and answers that could come in handy while recovering their email addresses in case of an emergency.

If your email address has been hacked and you have recovered it, it is best if you change the security questions and answers.

This is because the hackers may have noted the questions and answers, and they may use them to reclaim your email address.

Step 5: Change Passwords of Other Online Accounts

There are various online accounts we link with your email address. It is quite natural for your email address to have emails containing credentials of your other online accounts.

Not just that, you might have used the same username and password for some online accounts as your email account. That is why those accounts are also at risk of getting hacked. Moreover, there could be some online accounts which you log in via email account.

All those accounts are at risk of getting exposed and hacked. That is why you need to change their password as soon as possible and turn on two-factor authentication wherever possible.

NOTE:

Most importantly, keep the passwords unique for each account and make them as strong as possible.

Step 6: Report the Hack

It is better that you report the hack to your email provider. You can fetch details such as when the hack happened, the location of the last login, and if only your email address is hacked or several email addresses are hacked.

If it is only yours, then there could be spyware on your phone or malware on your computer. If several email addresses have been hacked, then there is a case of a huge data breach.

Tip:

Moreover, reporting a hacking will help you recover your account if any future scenario of your email address being hacked occurs.

Conclusion

Email data breach is quite common even in major online companies of the world. If you are wondering, ‘Is a phishing email a data breach?’, nearly 40% of data breach attacks are performed by phishing and spyware attacks.

Therefore, you need to be aware and take advantage of apps for safety, security, and privacy. ClevGuard Anti-Spyware is the best app for complete detection and protection. It is a must-have app for every phone to detect spyware and malicious apps, real-time protection, and email data breach intimation.

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By Cody Walsh

An experienced technology blogger and editor who has spent more than a decade writing about software, gadgets, and computing etc all over the Internet.

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