According to an official email from Google, my info's been sold on the "Dark Web"

[Rich-Allen1976]

Above.

Address/DOB/Email address apparently.

Is there anything I can do to be more secure as I'm concerned about this?

 

[Beerkeg]

Nope. Any time you use your email to register online or give it at a store for a bonus savings card, you risk it being leaked. There is no way to prevent this. You can kind of minimize this by using burner emails or like garbage emails that you use for accounts you don't care about much. When you have to give your DoB or address, if it isn't for anything important (billing, bank, government stuff, etc.) just use a fake name and address with one of your burner emails. If they require a phone number, look up a local advertising firm phone number and give them that. Most places that "require" your info don't actually need it and won't cross-check it with your ID so they don't actually need your real info. Basically always pay attention to what is actually required and with info like address, be as vague as possible, like only provide country/city if possible.
Some people will recommend using encrypted emails like protonmail, but that is pretty useless cause they're only encrypted if the recipient is also using a similar system. So if you're emailing a gmail account from your protonmail account then its no longer encrypted and kinda defeats the purpose.

[UnmeiNoTenshi]

My question would be is it actually an official email from Google, or a highly convincing fake one telling you that your information has been taken and sold

[Rich-Allen1976]

Add image to post
   
Post Reply
3 posts • Page 1 of 1
Return to “General Discussion”

That is a possibility, however, as my Brother's in Internet security for a living, I've forwarded the email to him to investigate.