I Was in the Epik Data Breach
Yes, it's true. I was informed the other day via email that my name and some of my personal information was among the many in the Epik data breach released on September 13, which included members of Parler, Gab, 8chan, and other sites. This may require some explanation, however.
I am not affiliated with any alt-right groups, but back in 2019, I had been doxed by a member of Deadnet, the former owners of the site Doxbin. Among the information in the dox was my real name, address, phone number, social security number, and some of my usernames and passwords. The reason they did so in the first place was that I had written a post about them on my old WordPress blog, and they took it as a dare. Brian Krebs wrote some interesting articles about the group, including Neo-Nazi Swatters Target Dozens of Journalists.
After the Deadnet users had posted my details on Doxbin, a few of them proceeded to crack some of my passwords on social media accounts, swat me, etc. As a result, however, this propelled my interest in cybersecurity, at the very least. It has made me aware that no matter how “safe” you think you are, there are probably still holes in your security and anonymity somewhere. It could be something as simple as using a VPN service that has easily exploited vulnerabilities, which then gives the attackers access to your machines, or inadvertently revealing your mother's maiden name, which is the answer to a security question on your bank.
So, despite this revelation about Epik, I have reached the point where it doesn't surprise me much anymore, and if I make a security faux-pas, that is an opportunity to learn how to patch it. It seems that one can never get too comfortable, security-wise, because that's when someone will exploit whatever vulnerabilities exist. There is still much to learn, so I am going about the process of doing so.