"This password has appeared in a data lea… (2024)

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User profile for user: Aqellezra

Aqellezra Author

User level: Level1

44 points

Is there any way to find out what website the data leak was from when getting this on my iphone settings?

I want to find the culprit for me now having to change my password used on 59 other sites

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 11

Posted on Sep 29, 2020 9:22 AM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

User profile for user: Stulynn1000

Stulynn1000

User level: Level1

11 points

Posted on Nov 7, 2020 5:33 AM

I have a similar scenario, receiving a notification on my iPhone that approx 80 of my username/passwords are the subject of a data breach. However many of my passwords on this notification are different. Ie, not the same password across all sites. I often use a similar password but with different letters or numbers at the end.

Some of these notifications even related to my wife's email addresses and passwords, and one was my sons school log-on with different passwords.

So how can it be that all these websites have suffered data breach at the same time??

I can understand the concept of, say, a retailers website getting hacked and suffering a data breach that contains a list of all its customers including my email and password. And I get that as a precaution Apple may notify me about a potential breach for any other websites where I may have the same email & password combination. But why would I be notified of many other passwords being at risk? Is it because they may contain 'part' of the same password? But that still doesn't explain the notifications relating to my wife and sons passwords which are nothing like mine.

Its almost as if Apples whole key chain password app in my iPhone has been compromised and its spat out all the ones that don't contain a 18 key encryption.

I'm slowly working through them all again and changing them.

Thanks

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User profile for user: Stulynn1000

Stulynn1000

User level: Level1

11 points

Nov 7, 2020 5:33 AM in response to Aqellezra

I have a similar scenario, receiving a notification on my iPhone that approx 80 of my username/passwords are the subject of a data breach. However many of my passwords on this notification are different. Ie, not the same password across all sites. I often use a similar password but with different letters or numbers at the end.

Some of these notifications even related to my wife's email addresses and passwords, and one was my sons school log-on with different passwords.

So how can it be that all these websites have suffered data breach at the same time??

I can understand the concept of, say, a retailers website getting hacked and suffering a data breach that contains a list of all its customers including my email and password. And I get that as a precaution Apple may notify me about a potential breach for any other websites where I may have the same email & password combination. But why would I be notified of many other passwords being at risk? Is it because they may contain 'part' of the same password? But that still doesn't explain the notifications relating to my wife and sons passwords which are nothing like mine.

Its almost as if Apples whole key chain password app in my iPhone has been compromised and its spat out all the ones that don't contain a 18 key encryption.

I'm slowly working through them all again and changing them.

Thanks

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User profile for user: kitt161

kitt161

User level: Level1

4 points

Oct 18, 2020 4:02 PM in response to Aqellezra

i bought an iphone 8 plus on ebay and right when i was signing in to all my accounts that i used before it always says its been in a data leak, i want to know if this is from me buying an iphone from ebay or if its just like those scam phone calls you get when they ask for your credit card information. "This password has appeared in a data lea… (5)

an example of one of the passwords that has been “leaked.” i just want to know if i have to change all my passwords, even my apple id.

Link

Sep 30, 2020 10:17 AM in response to Johnathan Burger

I use unique passwords on all sites and have had this warning for several sites that use 5 or 6 figure number PIN's as their password (which are all different by the way).

Does this mean that:

  1. it has actually identified the website with my account username and password combo has been leaked, or
  2. just that these 5 or 6 figure number PIN's have been found on a compromised list for "someone"?

Clearly 1 causes me great concern but 2 would seem reasonable, in that there will be numerous people worldwide that would randomly choose the same 5 figure number, of which some poor sole has had their data breached.

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User profile for user: Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch

User level: Level10

207,414 points

Mar 28, 2021 10:46 AM in response to jarkko274

So you are advocating NOT changing a password that has been leaked?

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User profile for user: MrHoffman

MrHoffman

Community+ 2024

User level: Level10

122,219 points

Oct 1, 2020 7:13 PM in response to Aqellezra

Okay, here’s how this scheme works. Some service gets breached. There are lots and lots of service breaches, too.

Every password associated with each account listed in that and in every other breach is then tried on every other service.

Continuously.

Forever.

Re-use a password, and some miscreant will now have access to that service, and whatever additional access can be gained from there. Access ro an Apple,ID (and particularly one without two-factor enabled) is a Bad Day for the account holder, too.

Put differently... Duplicate passwords will get found, just as soon as there’s one been included in a server breach.

And if Apple is reporting this diagnostic, then the password is known to be associated with the account. Bad Day.

As for determining the number of breaches thar an email address has been found, see

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Further reading over there will provide further background, too.

Resetting the phone is not necessary. Unique passwords are strongly suggested. Two-factor on important accounts such as your Apple ID, too.

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User profile for user: ayan244

ayan244

User level: Level1

4 points

Dec 29, 2020 2:03 PM in response to Aqellezra

Hey guys i got the same message so i clicked on it and it took me to the page with all leaked sites. I was gonna change all my passwords later so i turned my phone off. But now i can’t find the page again to change my password. Do y’all know where it is?

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User profile for user: Bbrokmeier

Dec 5, 2020 7:26 PM in response to Aqellezra

I was informed by Apple that all my passwords were part of a data leak. I don’t use my Apple password for anything except for Apple which means that they had the data leak. They are also telling me that every other password I have was leaked so they leaked all of my passwords?! What the heck happened?!

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User profile for user: Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch

User level: Level10

207,414 points

Jul 31, 2021 6:04 PM in response to boredumb

No, the warning is not a scam. Here is a lengthy explanation of how the leaked password warning is generated→Password Monitoring - Apple Support

To summarize, the leaked password list that is used for the leaked password warning came from hundreds of sites that have been hacked over the past several years (remember Equifax, that had 150 million accounts stolen, or Marriott that had over 200 million?), and the passwords have been found for sale on the dark web. There’s also a site where you can check your passwords and user IDs to see if they are on compromised password lists→https://haveibeenpwned.com. Google also has access to leaked password lists, and if you store passwords with Chrome those will be checked against these lists also.

This link describes how other warnings (weak password, reused passwords) work→Password security recommendations - Apple Support

Link

User profile for user: Johnathan Burger

Johnathan Burger

User level: Level9

67,387 points

Sep 29, 2020 10:28 AM in response to Aqellezra

You will never find the culprit.

Look at the news, many websites and companies are breached.

Many of them don't follow best practices of security by salting and hashing passwords.

It is estimated that 15 billion passwords are available to buy on the dark web.

Your best bet is to use a password generator to create a unique password for each and every website.

iOS has one built in, keychain:

https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/automatically-fill-in-strong-passwords-iphf9219d8c9/ios

You can also use a service such as 1password or lastpass.

Link

User profile for user: Silverjoystix

Silverjoystix

User level: Level1

4 points

May 7, 2021 1:50 PM in response to ACliveB

This is the million dollar question no one else is asking. How does Apple know?

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User profile for user: jwpinnacle

jwpinnacle

User level: Level1

11 points

Nov 9, 2020 4:58 PM in response to Aqellezra

What’s going on - everyday I seem to be getting this message even after I-have updated my password.

I go into FB and I find my account is active 90 miles away - do a security check with FB nothing wrong but apple keeps saying password leaked-

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User profile for user: tutu786

tutu786

User level: Level1

12 points

Dec 2, 2020 11:39 PM in response to MrHoffman

But to keep passwords for every websites is insane. How can we remember those passwords? If this is the solution then it sucks. Normal people can't remember each and every password (now you will tell that you don't have to remember the password but instead your phone or computer will do it. Unfortunately, Life is not that simple.

Cyber researchers have to work more hard on solving this problem.

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User profile for user: Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch

User level: Level10

207,414 points

Dec 3, 2020 7:06 AM in response to tutu786

tutu786 wrote:

But to keep passwords for every websites is insane.

No, it is not only sane, it is the ONLY way to stay relatively safe. If you use the same password for multiple sites it pretty much guarantees that you will be hacked. Use a password vault app so you don’t have to remember any of them. If you use only Apple products the built in Keychain will do nicely. But all major web browsers also have the ability to save your passwords, including Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, etc. And there are quite a few 3rd party password vaults; here are some (not a complete list):

  • 1password (generally considered the best)
  • lastpass
  • SplashID safe
  • Dropbox Passwords

All of these work the same way. They store your passwords using strong encryption, and you only have to remember one password for the app itself to find any password and have it entered automatically into the website or app.

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User profile for user: royce19

royce19

User level: Level1

15 points

Aug 10, 2021 3:11 AM in response to ACliveB

haveibeenpwned contacts multiple famous services such as wattpad and mathway, etc to see if they have been exposed to hackers and accounts have been sold or leaked, and might also confirm that your email or phone-number is part of that list.

This methodology has some limitations however, as it relies on companies actually admitting and giving a record of emails stating that they have been hacked.

Contrastingly Apple's Keychain services use a different method. Like many VPN services like NordVPN, Keychain actually references many deep web links to compromised accounts and immediately contacts the owner. Quote:

"To verify whether a password not present in the local list is a match involves some interaction with Apple servers. To help ensure that legitimate users’ passwords aren’t sent to Apple, a form of cryptographicprivate set intersectionis deployed that compares the users’ passwords against a large set of leaked passwords. This is designed to ensure that for passwords less at risk of breach, little information is shared with Apple. For a user’s password, this information is limited to a 15-bit prefix of a cryptographic hash. The removal of the most frequently leaked passwords from this interactive process, using the local list of most commonly leaked passwords, reduces the delta in relative frequency of passwords in the web services buckets, making it impractical to infer user passwords from these lookups."

(in short cutting through the bull-**** (excuse the french)) and is way faster and more secure of a system. Heres a link to apples website that explains it sort of well: Password Monitoring

Hope this helps!

Royce

Link

User profile for user: MrHoffman

MrHoffman

Community+ 2024

User level: Level10

122,219 points

Jul 31, 2021 7:45 PM in response to boredumb

For implementation details, see:

https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1902/en_US/apple-platform-security-guide.pdf#page132

On iOS and iPadOS, see: Settings > Passwords > Security Recommendations

On macOS, it’s hidden in Safari > Preferences > Passwords

If you’re getting notifications, one or more of your passwords may well be headed for trouble,

Link

"This password has appeared in a data leak" notice on iPhone

"This password has appeared in a data lea… (2024)

FAQs

"This password has appeared in a data lea…? ›

Change your password immediately

What does it mean my password has appeared in a data leak? ›

For example, if your password for your Amazon account is “redsox2004”, and your iPhone informs you it has appeared in a data leak, this simply means that in publicly available account credentials covering various companies that were breached, “redsox2004” was on the list of passwords.

Why does my iPhone say my password has appeared in a data leak? ›

What does a data leak mean on iPhones? Even though Apple calls it a data leak, it actually means your data ended up in a data breach, and your sensitive details are exposed online (it doesn't mean your phone has been hacked).

Should I be worried about a data leak? ›

Data breach is serious and can affect you in many ways. Change any exposed passwords. If your password is subject to a breach, then you should update your login credentials. Your new password should be strong and unique, to prevent hackers from randomly guessing the correct password.

How does Apple know my password has been compromised? ›

Apple will send to your device a list of common passwords that are present in data leaks. For your passwords that are not in this list, your device will send information calculated from your passwords to Apple to check if the passwords may be present in a data leak.

How does a data leak happen? ›

How does a data leak happen? A data leak happens when someone from within the organization inadvertently exposes confidential data. It is often the result of outdated systems, poor password policies, stolen or lost devices, and software vulnerabilities.

How to deal with data leaks? ›

Here are six steps to take if your information is exposed in a data breach.
  1. Stay Alert. ...
  2. Secure Your Accounts. ...
  3. Initiate a Fraud Alert. ...
  4. Monitor Your Financial Accounts and Credit Reports. ...
  5. Freeze or Lock Your Credit File. ...
  6. Stay Vigilant to Signs of Scams.
Apr 8, 2024

What does your password has been seen in a data leak mean on safari? ›

The message is legit. If you receive such a notification, your password matches an entry on a list of compromised data. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is your password personally, it might be someone else's password that matches yours.

How do iPhone data leaks happen? ›

Data leaks occur when a malicious actor, such as a hacker infiltrates your iPhone's security system to gain access to your personal data. This can be done by exploiting any vulnerabilities in the system such as outdated software or hardware, or by using malware.

How do I check if my Apple ID is being used by someone else? ›

From the Devices section of your Apple ID account page, you can find all of the devices that you're currently signed in to with your Apple ID, including Android devices, consoles, and smart TVs: Sign in to appleid.apple.com,* then select Devices.

How does your phone get a data leak? ›

The vast majority of data breaches are caused by stolen or weak credentials. If malicious criminals have your username and password combination, they have an open door into your network.

Is data leakage a threat? ›

A data leak and a data breach can have critical consequences, including financial losses. However, a data leak involves more negligence than a data breach, typically resulting from insider threats. These actions are usually unintentional but can be as harmful as a data breach.

What are the major reasons of data leak? ›

The 8 Most Common Causes of Data Breaches
  • Weak and stolen credentials.
  • Backdoor and application vulnerabilities.
  • Malware.
  • Social engineering.
  • Too many permissions.
  • Ransomware.
  • Improper configuration and exposure via APIs.
  • DNS attacks.
Apr 19, 2024

Why does Apple say my password was in a data leak? ›

If your Apple ID password was involved in a breach, that can mean your password has been re-used, and that password is now known to anybody that cares, which means they're going to try to use that same password everywhere, which means they'll be trying or gaining access to your Apple ID, which can end badly.

Does Apple warn you if your phone is being hacked? ›

Additionally, Apple will send an email and iMessage notification to the phone number and email address associated with the user's Apple ID. Each of these threat notifications will explain additional steps that the user can take to protect their devices.

Why do password leaks happen? ›

Data breaches at large organizations can lead to the exposure of millions of passwords. These breaches often occur due to vulnerabilities in the company's security systems or successful hacking attempts. When third-party services are compromised, all users relying on these platforms become vulnerable.

Why is Safari telling me my passwords are compromised? ›

You're using passwords on one or more accounts that have been breached on compromised websites/accounts. It is highly recommended that you do NOT reuse passwords across multiple websites/accounts. Safari and Keychain will manage your logons such that you don't even need to remember your passwords.

How do you know if your passwords have been compromised? ›

If you want to know how to find compromised passwords, you have four options:
  • Using your operating system or browser tools (Android and iOS)
  • The Privacy Monitor from Clean Email.
  • Checking with 'Have I Been Pwned' service.
  • Using password manager apps.
Aug 22, 2024

What does compromised in a data leak mean? ›

A data compromise is when unauthorized individuals access secure or confidential data. This could involve personal information such as social security numbers, banking details, and healthcare records. On the other hand, it could involve sensitive corporate information like trade secrets or proprietary data.

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