When news broke that millions of customer records were leaked from a big company, my uncle called me in a panic. He asked, ‘Should I throw away my SIM card? Can someone empty my bank account right now?’
I told him to take a deep breath. A data leak is scary, but your money does not just vanish into thin air unless you leave your front doors wide open.
Think about your housing society. If someone tells you a burglar stole the society visitor logbook with names and flat numbers, you do not burn down your apartment. You simply walk over, turn the brass deadbolt on your front door, lock the back balcony grill, and tell the watchman to verify anyone who rings your bell.
Here is the exact twenty-minute lockdown routine I made my uncle do on his living room sofa:
First, we changed his primary email and net banking passwords. We used four random words that make sense only to him, like ‘mango-cricket-bicycle-blue’. A crook running computer guessing tools will never guess that in a hundred years.
Second, we turned on two-step verification on WhatsApp and email. Now, even if a thief buys your password off a shady forum, they cannot open your account without the secret six-digit PIN on your physical phone screen.
Third, we opened his bank app and switched off ‘International Card Usage’. Most Indian bank cards get misused on foreign websites that skip OTP verification. Turning off international swipes stops them cold.
Fourth, we checked his phone app permissions and removed SMS access from random torch and game apps he downloaded last year.
To keep your phone permanently locked without doing all this manually every weekend, install the CYBX app. Built by 63SATS, CYBX keeps an eye on dark web marketplaces day and night. If your email or number ever gets posted by hackers, CYBX warns you in seconds, while its built-in shields block malicious links and fraudulent calls before they can trick you.