This week’s Tech Smart Boss Cool Tech of the Week -> Have I Been Pwned

Check out all the best of the week in Issue 199 of the Tech Smart Boss Newsletter.

I was signing up for the free tier of Hunter.io this week (perhaps a future cool tech of the week) and when I entered my password to sign up it prompted me that they wouldn’t take it, it had been exposed in a breach. I thought that was curious and dug a little deeper on the link they shared and found a pretty useful tool that I am naming this week’s Cool Tech of the Week.

This is just a website, but they have collected a ton of leaked and dark web information to compile a searchable database. One key is they don’t link passwords to emails on this site, so you don’t have to worry about this site exposing your info.

But if you search your password and find it’s been pwned you should change immediately as others may have the link between your email, your password, and your accounts where they may be used.

Here’s why it’s dangerous for your password to be in this database. It means that as a hacker may steal hashed passwords from other sources, by default it is very hard to break a hashed password file. But if they have a list of passwords used in the past, it gives them an advantage to break it quickly, and then they have the hashed version of your password and can easily track it to any leaked account.

The short version, don’t use any password that you find in this database, Hunter.io is being very responsible by preventing you.

Give it a try, test your emails and your passwords and take action.

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