Samsung data breach: What you need to know

Samsung has disclosed that they were victims of a new data breach which included their US systems that were compromised to steal customer information. This news comes after they informed the public that customer personal information was accessed and leaked out of its network.

Samsung has communicated that the data that was leaked included Samsung customers’ names, contacts and demographic information, dates of birth, and product registration data. However, the good news is that this breach did not involve any social security or credit card numbers.

Samsung has said that they have engaged an “outside cybersecurity firm and are coordinating with law enforcement. ”

What you need to do

Samsung are sending out emails to customers who have been affected by this breach. They have communicated directly with certain customers they identified as affected by this issue to make them aware of the matter.

Meanwhile, Samsung has advised all their customers to:

• Remain cautious of any unsolicited communications that ask for your personal information or refer you to a web page asking for personal information
• Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from suspicious emails
• Review your accounts for suspicious activity 

According to Samsung, customer phones were not affected and we should be good to use them as usual for now.

Security advise

1. As always, avoid using the same passwords on different sites. This ensures that even if one password is breached, your other accounts are protected. Make sure you are using password managers. This will also ensure that you are only using strong password for your accounts.
2. Educate yourself on phishing scams. Learn the different ways scammers try to get your credentials.
3. Keep your accounts secure (in addition to strong passwords) by implementing two-factor authentication on your most important accounts. Avoid using text messages to get 2 factor code, use a Authenticator App (like Authy, Duo Mobile etc.) instead,
4. If you want to view which data breaches contained your information, head over to haveibeenpwned.com. This will help you get more information about your accounts and when they were leaked.

In addition to the above, you should engage a credit monitoring service to keep an eye on any new card or loan applications in your name.