Recently I evaluated my social media behaviour. What could possible happen with my public data, starting on my username? Let’s dig into it:
You can check social media accounts based on a single username, e.g. via namechk.com:
It will reveal platforms, where this username is used. When considering social media, people often re-use usernames across platforms, allowing data collection. However, some platforms have my username already locked by another user, so false-positives occur as well. you can also search for eMail adresses, which is much more accurate and cannot be re-used by other platforms:
After identifying a platform, such as youtube, facebook etc., for a given email adresse, you can check for published password lists for the related account, e.g. on HaveIBeenPawned.com. I used my SPAM-mail adress and the site published multiple breaches for platforms, where that account was used:
Therfore we know:
- Affected Username (eMail)
- Used Platforms
- Platform with data breaches
- ID of the data breach
Let’s check for the data of one of data breaches. This can be done by accessing intelbase.is and searching for the affected username; it returns:
- Affected Platform
- Username
- Password
Within data breaches section, you can select View data breaches for accessing passwords:
Therefore: your mail address should not be published and should be kept safe. Same goes to your general username, as it can be linked to your mail adresse. You can also review your account within data breaches regularly for keeping an eye on it.
