Avast Blog_Tips & Advices: Meet the features: Protecting against lost and stolen pass

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You don't always know when passwords are lost and stolen from sites — we've got solutions

“Meet the Features” is an ongoing series to help introduce you to specific features in Avast products. It’s meant to help you understand and use a specific feature by explaining the security/privacy problem the feature is meant to solve and how it works so that you can quickly understand and use the feature to better protect yourself.

Have a feature you want to meet? Let us know.

The problem

Data breaches that lead to lost or stolen passwords are becoming more and more common.  Every time a password is lost or stolen from a site there’s a risk that attackers can get that information and log into that site as you. Because of this, lost and stolen passwords are big business for cybercriminals who buy and sell these passwords, sometimes for just pennies.

When a password is lost or stolen to protect yourself you should either change the password on that site and any others you might have used that password on. You can also consider closing the account on that site if you’re not using it any more. This highlights the risk of password reuse: if a password is stolen from one site and you use that same password on another site, both now are at risk

The problem is in knowing when passwords are lost and stolen from sites: you don’t always know when it happens. This is where Avast products can help.

The solutions

Avast Premium Security and Avast BreachGuard for Microsoft Windows both have features that scan for lost and stolen passwords associated with email addresses and tell you about them. 

Both features will notify you when passwords associated with your email accounts have been leaked and will help guide you to change those passwords.

In Avast Premium Security, the Hack Alerts feature does this for the email address associated with your Avast account.

In Avast BreachGuard, the Risk Monitor feature does this for you for the email address associated with your Avast subscription and any others you’ve added.

How it works

Avast Premium Security Hack Alerts

You’ll receive notification any time a new password breach is detected affecting a password

associated with your Avast account by an alert in the Notifications menu in the upper right corner as shown below. These are also sent to you by email and in the program pop-up.
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