DETROIT (WXYZ) — Data breaches are a periodic occurrence — from hospital systems to the AT&T data leak just this week. AT&T said 73 million customers were impacted.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra said it was attacked in the fall.
So, how can you protect yourself?
Wayne State University professor Doug Witten is a cybersecurity expert who is well-versed in the world of data breaches.
“If you go back in history the last 10 years, this happens every — in my field — weekly," he said. "Monthly.”
He said the breaches aren't more common, but "they’re getting more sophisticated.”
Witten said hackers are often tied to organized crime and nation-states like Russia or North Korea.
“But the easiest way to break into somebody’s account is a username and password. That’s really what they’re going after," he explained.
Lynn Dybalski, a Shelby Township resident, told 7 Action News she can relate.
“Somebody hacked into, I’m guessing my email, got my IHG rewards and used my rewards points to book a hotel room in California," she explained. “And the next day, I went on to use my Kohl's Cash that I’d gotten in my email, and I went to use it and they said it’s already been used.”
Just before Easter, she said she started getting notices from American Express that her credit card had been used.
“One right after the other, and all of them were mostly between three and four hundred dollars.”
To protect yourself, Witten said to created a strong, complex password. He said it’s best to construct what’s called mnemonic, using uppercase and lowercase letters, along with numbers and special characters.
He said to use “a word or a phrase that means nothing to anybody else.”
If you're affected by a data breach like the recent one at AT&T, the same advice applies and should be also applied to any other accounts that use an identical password.
7 Action News put a call-out on the station's Facebook page. At least two dozen people wrote they or someone they know were impacted by at least one data breach.
"Well, my advice would be you have to be diligent and if you can check your accounts often and set these safeguards, you need to do that. If not, then ask the advice of people that can help you,” Dybalski said.
