Security researchers have set up a website that allows punters to check whether or not their email addresses have appeared in data dumps slurped from compromised databases. Hacking attacks on sites including Gawker and the network of Sony’s gaming division have led on to the publication of hundreds of thousands of users’ credentials online, sometimes (but not always) by activists at Anonymous.
That’s bad enough in itself but is even worse for users use the same login details for all their online activity – from email to online banking. Compromised firms normally make some effort to notify affected customers but this does not always happen.
A new site – called Pwnedlist.com - aims to plug this information gap. Users enter a username or email address into the site’s search box to find out if their username has appeared in any recent public data dumps. Users are not prompted to enter their password itself.
You can also use a SHA-512 hash of your email/username as input. Just don't forget to lowercase all characters first.
If a username or email address appears on the list, users are advised not to panic and to simply change their passwords. There’s also sensible advice of offer on password security even if credentials are not on the list.
netizens left a footprint.