The web that tells you if you stole passwords Dropbox, LinkedIn, MySpace and other accounts (and how to protect yourself) – BBC World

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Image caption it is not so difficult that you steal your password. We tell you how you can find out with just one click.

Last week the company digital storage Dropbox acknowledged that he had suffered a massive “pirating” and urged users to change their passwords.

hack occurred in 2012 and affected 68.6 million accounts , after hackers from stealing credentials to an employee the company.

At the time, Dropbox only acknowledged that there had been a leak of emails. But now I recognize that hackers also stole passwords to millions of users.

“This accident safety is not new,” admitted the company when it was contacted by the BBC.

“We heard the first rumors (about stealing credentials 2012) a few weeks ago and immediately started our investigation,” said Dropbox on your blog.

Image copyright Dropbox

Image caption are you one of the nearly 70 million people affected by the latest massive hack to Dropbox? We tell you how you can find out.

And although the technology firm has increased its security measures since then, now is when you are taking steps to address the incident.

According to dropbox “there is nothing to indicate” that the pirates agreed to all these accounts, but it is important that users change their passwords as “measure pre “, which can also be applied to other type services like LinkedIn or MySpace.

These social networks have been publicized hacking . And they are not alone.

But how can you tell if you have been a victim of any?

I hacked my account?

Find out if you have stolen the password from any of your accounts is just a click away.

you only have to enter your email address or your username on the website “have I Been Pwned? “, whose name derives from the English ” owned “in the jargon and internet gaming means ” I was defeated. “

Image caption security expert Troy Hunt created this site, where, enter your email or your username, you can tell if your account was hacked.

The site was created by the security expert and regional director of Microsoft Troy Hunt , “a free service to anyone who wanted to quickly check if any of your accounts was compromised by a data breach. “

As explained Hunt to the BBC, the algorithm protecting user passwords Dropbox was “very difficult to destroy” .

But still, the hackers able to do so.

And that, says Hunt, it occurs more often than many people think.

“M uch people do not know l scale or frequency “of occurrence is and type computer attacks says Hunt, and ignore the” serious risks “that are set to use the Internet.

Image caption If you steal passwords, you’ll see a message in green with the exclamation “Good news! ” (Good news).

When entering your email on the website created by Hunt, you will see a message telling you if your account was hacked (or if it was not) appears.

Pu ede you take a surprise and your dropbox account has not been the subject of hackers, but what has been your LinkedIn or MySpace, victims of hacking massive in recent months.

Image caption If you were a victim of a hack, then you will see a message in red and then the web will tell you which of your accounts associated with that email or user was the subject of theft.

The same applies to other social networks and web portals like Adobe, Badoo, VK or Tumblr.

for Adobe, the last great hack -in the year 2013- affected over 2.9 million users.

LinkedIn was more recent: the last mass password theft occurred in May this year, like that of MySpace.

Thousands of users visit every day the website developed by Hunt to find out whether they were victims of a hack .

When did BBC World, the web indicated that 129 websites were being victims of hack at the time, but which led the ranking was by far MySpace: there are already about 400 million accounts affected, said the website

How to protect your accounts

for.? Dropbox, the company les envi or email to all users who believe they were affected , announcing that they had changed their password issues security.

Image copyright Dropbox

Image caption Dropbox changed the password allegedly affected users as a “preventive measure,” said a spokesman for Dropbox.

“This change passwords ensures that even if they were Hacked , and they can not be used to access those accounts,” they explained.

It is possible, however, that you did not receive that email. But if, after checking it on the website of Hunt, you discover that your account was affected, is best to change your password as soon as possible.

Dropbox recommends enabling verification in two steps, you can find in your settings within the security tab.

is to enable code six digits or a security key , in addition to your password.

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Image caption a good way to protect your files from Dropbox is to enable two-step verification.

To do this, first you will receive 10 codes of recovery, which should stored safely.

“If you once you lose your phone or can not receive or generate a security code, you’ll need one of these recovery codes to access your Dropbox “warns the company.

you can do same with other services and follow the safety instructions that explain its creators in the tutorials and configuration options.

it is also recommended to use different passwords for different services.

after all, everything indicates that it was the carelessness of one of the employees of Dropbox allowing the hack .

the more different passwords have associated with the same email address, the more difficult it put to hackers who want to steal passwords.

Image copyright Thinkstock

Image caption better not use the same password for different internet services or networks social.