Post-Breach First Aid: 10 Steps to Check Within One Minute If Your Accounts Are Compromised

Your credentials have possibly appeared in a massive leak—what now? The first 60 seconds are critical for confirming exposure and cutting off attackers’ access. The checklist below walks you through a rapid self-diagnosis and the immediate actions that follow.

Why Every Second Counts

Stolen credentials are fed into automated bots that try thousands of sites per minute, so the faster you react, the smaller the blast radius. A one-minute triage tells you whether you’re dealing with a real compromise or a false alarm.

The 60-Second Checklist (10 Steps)

Run steps 1-4 in parallel to finish within a minute; steps 5-10 begin your remediation.

1. Query “Have I Been Pwned” (HIBP)
   • Go to haveibeenpwned.com, enter each primary email address, and hit “pwned?” to see if it appears in any breach records12.
   • Use the “Passwords” tab to test common or legacy passwords you still remember1.
2. Check Browser & Phone Breach Alerts
   • Chrome and Edge flag saved credentials found in leak databases during sync3.
   • iOS shows “This password has appeared in a data leak” under Settings → Passwords3.
3. Run a Dedicated Password Leak Scanner
   • Tools such as the Cybernews Password Leak Checker compare a hashed version of your password against 33 billion leaked entries in seconds4.
4. Search Your Inbox for “Data Breach Notification” Companies are legally required to notify affected users; a quick inbox search may reveal services you missed5.
5. Change Confirmed-Compromised Passwords Immediately Rotate any password that shows up in steps 1-4, starting with email, banking, and cloud storage accounts5.
   • Generate 16-character random strings or long passphrases—never reuse them6.
6. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) MFA blocks 90 %+ of automated takeovers; prefer authenticator apps or hardware keys over SMS for critical accounts6.
7. Purge Sessions & Tokens After changing a password, sign out of all devices so stolen cookies or OAuth tokens can’t be reused by attackers5.
8. Audit Password Manager Vaults Most managers flag weak or duplicate entries and can rescan vaults against fresh breach feeds, saving you manual checks6.
9. Place a Fraud Alert or Credit Freeze (If PII Was Exposed) If the breach includes Social Security numbers or financial data, add a fraud alert to your credit file and consider a security freeze to block new accounts in your name5.
10. Set Up Ongoing Breach Monitoring
    • Subscribe to HIBP notifications or RSS feeds so future leaks hit your inbox instantly2.
    • Review cloud storage and IAM configurations to ensure no public buckets or over-permissive roles leak more data in the future.

Key Takeaways

• A one-minute triage is possible by combining HIBP, built-in browser/OS leak warnings, and fast online scanners.
• Immediate password changes and MFA activation limit the damage even if credentials are already circulating.
• Continuous monitoring and unique, random passwords remain the best long-term defense.

Stay prepared—treat every breach alert like a security fire drill, and you’ll never be caught off guard.