Hundreds of millions of internet users have had their personal data compromised by some surprisingly high-profile websites and you could be one of them. The good news is that you can find out if you’ve been Pwned with the help of a dedicated website.
What is Pwn or getting Pwned?
According to Wikipedia, Pwn is a slang term derived from the verb own, meaning ‘to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The term implies domination or humiliation of a rival,(e.g., “You just got pwned!”)’.
10 Most Pwned Accounts
- 711,477,622 Onliner Spambot accounts
- 593,427,119 Exploit.In accounts
- 457,962,538 Anti Public Combo List accounts
- 393,430,309 River City Media Spam List accounts
- 359,420,698 MySpace accounts
- 234,842,089 NetEase accounts
- 164,611,595 LinkedIn accounts
- 152,445,165 Adobe accounts
- 112,005,531 Badoo accounts
- 105,059,554 B2B USA Businesses accounts
Popular sites such as Linked-In and MySpace feature on the list of the top-ten targeted sites, and you can check whether your email address has been affected by visiting haveibeenpwned.com. There is no sign-up necessary, just enter your email address and you will be informed as to whether there has been any breach of security. If you have been affected then you should change your email account password immediately to rectify the problem. You can then choose whether you’d like to be informed of future problems by registering your email address.
