Why am I receiving a notification that my information is found on the dark web?

You have received this notification as the information belonging to you is available on the dark web and may be bought or used by hackers to commit identity crimes. Here are some reasons why your information may have been found on the dark web.

• Website breaches 
  This could be because a website in which you entered your information to sign up or for using any of the services associated with the website may have suffered a breach incident. It may be difficult for you to remember, or you simply may not know other services that are associated with the website.
  Even though you may have stopped using the website, or deactivated the account, or unsubscribed, the information could still be available in their systems.
• Leaked usernames and passwords (known as Combo List)
  In some cases, usernames/email addresses and password pairs are uploaded as a text file (known as Combo List) onto the dark web. This file is machine-readable and can be used as an input to tools that will automate authentication requests to a website or an application programming interface (API).
  You will receive a notification if your information is found in the Combo List. Due to security purposes, you will only see the password partially. Note that the password may not be your most recent, but one you have used in the past. You need to verify that the email address associated with this password belongs to you before we partially unmask and display the password.
  For more details, read Learn more about Password Combo List notification.
• Exposure of your personal information from an unconfirmed source
  Your personal information gets exposed by an unconfirmed source on the dark web. Unfortunately, we don't have the complete details on the breach hence could not provide you with the name or source of the exposure. However, we will specify the category of the exposed information so that you change and strengthen your online logins and passwords.
  Note that our Member Services & Support agents do not have any additional information about this exposure, nor do they know if your exposed personal information is being used in any suspicious manner.
  We're constantly scanning for your personal information on the dark web and will continue to notify you if we find anything. In the meantime, we advise you to be prudent with your personal information going forward.