Learn How To Check If Your Personal Information Has Been Compromised

Data breaches can impact every area of a person’s life. If you’ve noticed suspicious activity on any of your online accounts or if you’ve been receiving spam calls or texts, you might be wondering how to check if your personal information has been compromised.

This article will explain the practical steps to take to safeguard against this threat. First, you can check if your data has been compromised, and then you can potentially take action.

We’ll discuss both the steps you can take to check if your data has been breached and what you can do about it. Our guide also touches on the kinds of personal info that could be targeted by a breach, including email accounts, login information, and banking details.

Carry on reading to learn more, or if you prefer, discuss your data breach concerns with our dedicated team of advisors. They can answer any questions that arise.

Also, our service can connect callers to a data breach solicitor to seek data breach compensation if their case is eligible. Learn more by:

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Jump To A Section

  1. How To Check If Your Personal Information Has Been Compromised
  2. What To Do If Your Personal Information Has Been Involved In A Data Breach
  3. Can You Report Suspicious Messages And Phone Calls?
  4. How Can You Prevent A Data Breach?
  5. Learn More About Data Breaches

How To Check If Your Personal Information Has Been Compromised

The first step you should take if you think your personal information has been compromised is to contact the organisation directly. They should be able to tell you whether or not they have suffered a data breach and if it has affected your personal information.

Further steps you can take include:

  • Checking that there is no unusual activity in your bank account or other accounts
  • Being alert to any increase in unwanted cold calls or spam emails
  • Change your passwords regularly and use a unique password for each account

There are also some software and websites that can alert you if they find that your information has been compromised in a data breach.

What Personal Information Can Be Exposed In Data Breaches?

Personal information can be any detail about you that reveals or suggests your identity, either on its own or when used alongside other details. This can include your:

Sensitive information, also known as special category data, is a subset of personal data that needs extra protection. This can include:

This kind of information can be used across multiple services and be found in browsers, apps, recruitment sites, online company websites and gaming platforms.

To learn more about how to check if your personal information has been compromised and what to do if it has, contact our team today.

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What To Do If Your Personal Information Has Been Involved In A Data Breach

A personal data breach can have a devastating effect on both your mental and financial well-being, and it can be hard to know where to start. If your personal data has been involved in a data breach, some steps you can take include:

  • Change your passwords: After a data breach, it’s important to change your passwords and ensure that any accounts with the same password are updated.
  • Enable two-factor authentication: Many apps and services offer two-factor authentication, which can make it harder for hackers or cybercriminals to access your accounts.
  • Look out for suspicious activity: Be alert for suspicious activity on your accounts or an increase in spam calls, emails, or texts.
  • Seek legal advice: We always recommend seeking legal advice if your personal data has been compromised because you may be eligible to claim data breach compensation.

Contact our team of advisors today to find out if you could be eligible to make a data breach claim, and to learn how to find a No Win No Fee data breach solicitor.

Can You Report Suspicious Messages And Phone Calls?

Yes, you can report spam calls and texts. There are two main avenues to do this, the first being through the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The ICO is the UK’s independent data protection watchdog and takes reports of spam texts and nuisance calls. They don’t respond to every complaint individually, but can investigate the report.

If the ICO finds that the organisation behind the calls have breached the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), they may levy a data breach fine against them.

You can also report suspicious calls and texts to the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC). They also provide guidance on what to do if you’ve shared personal information with a spam caller.

How Can You Prevent A Data Breach?

There are many ways that you can help prevent data breaches. While not all methods are completely infallible, some of the steps you can take to protect your data further include:

  • Using complex and unique passwords
  • Having robust cybersecurity policies on your devices
  • Being wary of where you share your information online
  • Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to mask your IP address
  • Having two-factor or multi-factor authentication enabled

These are only a few examples of what you can do to help prevent a data breach. If you think that your personal data has been compromised, contact our team of advisors today.

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Learn More About Data Breaches

In addition to this guide on how to check if your personal data has been breached, these other guides from our website offer further reading:

More Resources On How To Check If Your Personal Data Has Been Compromised

Thank you for reading our guide on how to check if your personal information has been compromised.