16 billion leaked records? Or not…?

Big headlines appeared again the other day: there was supposedly a massive data breach involving 16 billion records on the street. Apple, Google, Facebook and Telegram Messenger were mentioned.

Scared? Sure.
But what transpires when you look further:

It is often not about one new leak
It is a compilation of old, stolen data
A lot of data comes from infostealers (malware that steals your logins)

Still, it remains worrisome.

Cloud migrations seem simple … until things go wrong

What makes it worrisome?

🔸 Criminals have ready-made sets of logins to abuse
🔸 Many people reuse passwords
🔸 Without MFA (two-step verification) you are vulnerable

And that’s exactly where the problem lies:
Many SMBs do know that you should use strong passwords, but yes … in practice we often still use that one password everywhere. Because it’s easy to remember. Until it goes wrong.

What worries entrepreneurs the most?

We did a mini-poll and this came out¹:

44%: Has my data been leaked?
38%: Phishing or fraud
13%: My passwords leak
6%: I don’t know where to start

Recognizable? You’re not the only one.
And the problem with data breaches: you often don’t notice it until it’s too late.

What can you do?

💡 Use unique passwords (and a password manager if you can’t remember)
💡 Turn on two-step verification (MFA) on email, Microsoft 365, social media
💡 Check if your email has been leaked via haveibeenpwned.com
💡 Talk about it within your company: is it clear who has access to what?