The odds are against us when it comes to data breaches. Most likely than ever, one of our accounts will be breached. And it doesn’t even have to be our fault, as history proved.
 
In May 2016, a cluster of mega data breaches was dissected in the media. More than 642 million social accounts were compromised – and it happened in less than two weeks.
 
LinkedIn, MySpace, Amazon, Twitter, Badoo – they were all affected, more or less directly.
 
Here’s what you should do in order to reduce the damage:
 

1. Keep calm and change your password. I’m talking about the password for the hacked account – log in as soon as you find out about the breach. Change the password, make sure you set up a new, strong and unique one.
2. Activate two-factor authentication, if the hacked service offers you this option. It will act as a second layer of protection, besides the initial password. Every time you’ll want to log in from a new device or browser, it will request you to authenticate using a second pass code, that’s unique and time sensitive. You’ll receive that one on your mobile phone – via a special app or text message.
3. In case you were reusing the initial password, will you please stop doing that? Connect to all your other accounts and change their passwords. Start with the email account that was linked to the hacked account. Repeat the previous steps (new, strong and unique password, and activate two-factor authentication).

And, in the future, make sure you don’t recycle your passwords. EVER.