Mozilla Announces Firefox Monitor for Tracking Data Breaches

• Mozilla has launched its new service to help users identify if their accounts have been breached.
• The new service is partnered with Troy Hunt’s project Have I Been Pwned.
• Users can check for data breaches by simply entering their email address.

Users will now be able to scan Troy Hunt’s Have I Been Pwned database for potential data breaches through Mozilla’s new website Firefox Monitor. Have I Been Pwned hosts a large collection of data breach databases and logs all email accounts that have been affected by leaks and breaches.

Both Firefox Monitor and Have I Been Pwned essentially offer the same service with Mozilla attempting to popularize Troy Hunt’s work through its Firefox brand. All of Troy Hunt’s data has been supplied to Mozilla to power the new service.

Nick Nguyen of Mozilla revealed "It can be hard to keep track of when your information has been stolen, so we’re going to help by launching Firefox Monitor, a free service that notifies people when they’ve been part of a data breach. After testing this summer, the results and positive attention gave us the confidence we needed to know this was a feature we wanted to give to all of our users."

Unlike Have I Been Pwned which does not store user emails when scanning for associated data breaches, Firefox Monitor can be configured to notify users whenever a data breach associated with a registered user’s email is identified.

Users can simply head to the official Firefox Monitor website and input their email address to check for data breaches. The page also offers a number of security guidelines and tips that are recommended for all internet users to protect their data and prevent data breaches.

The first step to protecting your accounts is setting up strong passwords and not repeating them across multiple accounts. Two-factor authentication using one-time passwords or even hardware keys from brands like Google can be used to protect your data from being compromised.

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