People's Energy data breach
From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the December 2020 breach of People's Energy. For every breach, see Breaches.
The People's Energy data breach exposed 358,822 accounts from peoplesenergy.co.uk in December 2020. The data taken includes passwords, dates of birth, names and physical addresses and 2 more kinds of data.[1]
Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 23 Feb 2021, 2 months later. It is the 509th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.
What was exposed
People's Energy’s breach included 6 kinds of data. What each lets criminals do:
| Data | What it’s used for |
|---|---|
| Passwords | Criminals try leaked passwords on email, banking and shopping sites, because people reuse them. |
| Dates of birth | Used to prove who you are to banks and phone companies. |
| Names | Makes scam messages personal enough to believe. |
| Physical addresses | Used to prove who you are, and for scam letters and parcels. |
| Email addresses | Expect scam emails that name the company to look genuine. |
| Phone numbers | Expect scam texts and calls, and a higher risk of someone moving your number to their SIM. |
What to do
- Check whether you’re in it.Search your email address on Have I Been Pwned. It tells you which breaches it appears in, People's Energy among them, without showing the data.
- Change your People's Energy password.If the account still exists, sign in at People's Energy (peoplesenergy.co.uk) and change it.
- Change it anywhere you used the same one.Start with your email, then banking and shopping. Leaked passwords are tried on other sites automatically, within days.
- Use a password manager and two-step sign-in.A different password for every site means one breach can’t open the rest. Two-step sign-in stops a leaked password working on its own.
- Distrust messages that mention People's Energy.Scammers use breach data to sound genuine. Don’t click links in emails or texts about the breach; go to the site yourself.
- Put a PIN on your phone account.Ask your mobile provider for a port-out PIN, so no one can move your number to their SIM.
- Freeze your credit.In the US, free at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. In Australia, ask Equifax, Experian and illion for a ban. No one can open credit in your name while it’s on.
Timeline
- : the breach, as best it can be dated.
- : Have I Been Pwned verifies the data and adds it to its search, 2 months later.
- : the entry was last updated.
Similar breaches
Breaches that leaked the same kinds of data, closest in time:
- bigbasket, October 2020, 25 million accounts
- Dave, June 2020, 3 million accounts
- MMG Fusion, December 2020, 2.7 million accounts
- Drizly, July 2020, 2.5 million accounts
- NetGalley, December 2020, 1.4 million accounts
- Bhinneka, January 2020, 1.3 million accounts
See Breaches for all 618, and Updates for keeping your devices patched.
References
- ^ Troy Hunt. “People's Energy”, Have I Been Pwned, added 23 Feb 2021. Breach data licensed CC BY 4.0.
External links
- Have I Been Pwned, to check your email address
- peoplesenergy.co.uk, People's Energy’s website