Tesco data breach
From Breaches, in the HARD wiki · Updated
This article is about the February 2014 breach of Tesco. For every breach, see Breaches.
The Tesco data breach exposed 2,239 accounts from tesco.com in February 2014. The data taken includes passwords, email addresses and reward program balances.[1]
Have I Been Pwned verified it and added it to its search on 13 Feb 2014, within a month. It is the 616th largest of the 618 breaches in HARD’s list.
What was exposed
Tesco’s breach included 3 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. |
| Email addresses | Expect scam emails that name the company to look genuine. |
| Reward program balances | Personal details that make scam messages more convincing. |
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, Tesco among them, without showing the data.
- Change your Tesco password.If the account still exists, sign in at Tesco (tesco.com) 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 Tesco.Scammers use breach data to sound genuine. Don’t click links in emails or texts about the breach; go to the site yourself.
Timeline
- : the breach, as best it can be dated.
- : Have I Been Pwned verifies the data and adds it to its search, within a month.
Similar breaches
Breaches that leaked the same kinds of data, closest in time:
- Bitly, May 2014, 9.3 million accounts
- ReverbNation, January 2014, 7 million accounts
- Kickstarter, February 2014, 5.2 million accounts
- Bin Weevils, September 2014, 1.3 million accounts
- Forbes, February 2014, 1.1 million accounts
- Domino's, June 2014, 648,231 accounts
See Breaches for all 618, and Updates for keeping your devices patched.
References
External links
- Have I Been Pwned, to check your email address
- tesco.com, Tesco’s website