This Password Appeared In A Data Leak

Sometimes, when you’re trying to run an app on your iPhone, you might get a “This password appeared in a data leak” pop-up message. The message further prompts that your account may be compromised and recommends you change the password for that site immediately.

iOS 14 updated the iPhone with a new security feature “Password Monitoring.” When there’s a data leak, the Password Monitoring System scans these leaked data and compares them with your authentication information. Then, if there’s a match, the above message pops up.

Note: Although this is a pretty serious issue, it does not conclusive that someone has access to your account. It just means that your password is now public and hackers can access it easily.

Check Apple Security Recommendations

Before we move into the fixes section, let’s check other Apple security recommendations for you. 

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Passwords.
    
3. Enter your device password if prompted.
4. Click on Security Recommendations.
   
5. Toggle on Detect Compromised Passwords.
   
6. Here, you’ll see if there are any High Priority Recommendations and Other Recommendations.
7. Additionally, there are small app notes implying that your password is Reused on multiple apps, Easily Guessed, or something similar.
   

To start off its best to comply with the security recommendations and take the necessary actions.

Change Your Password

Since your password has appeared on a data leak, naturally, you should change your password to secure your account. But this time, add both upper cases and lower cases to your password to make it stronger. You could further add numbers and special characters to your password to increase its strength.

You can change your password directly from the pop-up message. In the pop-up, you have the option to Change password on website. When you click on this option, it’ll take you to that particular site. Set a new password and save it.

You can change the passcode of your account from the system settings as well.

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Passwords.
   
3. Enter your device password if prompted.
4. Click on Security Recommendations.
5. Toggle on Detect Compromised Passwords.
   
6. Here, you’ll see if there are any High Priority Recommendations and Other Recommendations.
   
7. Click on a recommendation.
8. Choose to Change password on website.
   

To protect your Apple account, you have to change the password of your Apple ID as well. This can also be done from your iPhone settings.

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on your profile.
3. Go to Password & Security.
   
4. Choose to Change Password.
   
5. Verify your old password and enter a new one.

Use Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an additional security layer to your online accounts. It authenticates the user two times before logging in to a particular account. Along with your password, you’ll have to enter either a one-time passcode (OTP) or provide some biometric data to log in. So, hackers and spammers will need two of your authentication information to access your account.

You can set up two-factor authentication on your Apple ID directly from your iPhone settings.

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on your profile.
3. Go to Password & Security.
   
4. Then, click on Two-Factor Authentication and turn it On.
   
5. Follow the onscreen procedure and fill out the required information to activate 2FA.

Turn Off Your Location

Although a location and GPS service is a handy feature, it can reveal your current geographical location to hackers and other unwanted users. Some third-party apps that rely on the location service can use this information in a rather malevolent way.

If an unwanted user has access to your location, along with the leaked password and personal information, they can impersonate you and steal your online account. To counter this, you can turn off location for non-mandatory applications.

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Privacy & Security.
   
3. Click on Location Services.
4. Select an application from the list and choose Never share your location.
   

Do Not Join Public Wi-Fi

Network encryption privatizes the information exchanged between your mobile device and the router. However, on public Wi-Fi, this encryption standard is usually disabled. So, when you get online on an unencrypted network, hackers can track your online activity and web traffic.

Furthermore, public Wi-Fi can lead to online sniffing and snooping as well. Hackers and spammers can eavesdrop on your Wi-Fi signal. This way, not only can they track what you do online, they can access your authentication information as well.

Password Managers

If you have various different internet accounts, it might be initially difficult for you to memorize all your authentication information. So, rather than having the same password for every account, use different and unique ones and store them on a password manager.

However, not all password managers provide ideal security encryption. There are many instances where hackers have been able to breach password managers to access all the user data within. But, some trustworthy ones like 1Password, Dashlane, and Keeper provide a strong data encryption standard; so much so that some of them are used at the government level as well.

Delete Inactive Accounts

Inactive accounts often get hacked and attacked. These accounts offer an easy target for an unwanted user who intends to access the information within. So, not only does an inactive account pose you a security risk, but it’s also the one most likely to be compromised.

If you have any such stale accounts, we recommend you either update the password for that account or delete it entirely.

Avoid Jailbreaking Your iPhone

When you jailbreak your iPhone, you gain access to its kernel system. This will directly make your operating system less stable and raise countless security threats. Furthermore, you’ll not be able to update the system firmware and patch your system with new security features.

Jailbreaking a device opens more opportunities for malware infection and virus attacks. Since your internal protection system is bypassed as soon as you jailbreak, hackers can easily infiltrate your accounts and access your personal information. So, if you have recently jailbroken your iPhone or are planning to do so, we recommend you otherwise.

Update Your Applications

When there’s a data leak, developers react fast to patch that flaw. They release new updates to upgrade the application with new compatibility, stability, and security features. But, if you do not install those updates, your application and the corresponding account will be at risk of infiltration. So, if you have app updates piled up on your system, we recommend you install all of them.

1. Open App Store. 
2. Click your profile icon from the top right corner of the screen.
   
3. Wait until your device completely scans the server for any new updates.
4. If there is a list of available updates, click Update All to upgrade all the applications on the list.