People's Energy data breach

What happened

In December 2020, the UK power company People's Energy suffered a data breach. The breach exposed almost 7GB of files containing 359k unique email addresses along with names, phones numbers, physical addresses and dates of birth. The incident also included People's Energy staff email addresses and bcrypt password hashes (no customer passwords were exposed).

What data leaked

• Dates of birth
• Email addresses
• Names
• Passwords
• Phone numbers
• Physical addresses

What to do if you had an account

1. Change the password. Change your password on this service. If you used the same password anywhere else, change it there too: attackers try leaked email and password pairs on other sites automatically. A password manager makes one unique password per site practical.
2. Turn on two-step sign-in. Enable two-factor authentication where the service offers it, preferably with an authenticator app or a passkey. A leaked password alone is then not enough to get in.
3. Expect targeted phishing. Leaked contact details are used to write convincing fake messages that mention the breached company or your real name. Do not click links in unexpected emails or texts about this account; go to the site by typing its address.
4. Watch for scam calls and SIM swaps. Be suspicious of calls and texts that claim to be from your bank or a courier. Ask your mobile operator for a port-out or SIM-change PIN if it offers one.
5. Guard against identity fraud. Identity documents and dates of birth cannot be changed like a password. Consider a credit freeze or fraud alert where your country offers one, and be wary of anyone who 'verifies' you using those details.

Check your email at haveibeenpwned.com

We do not run email lookups ourselves. The search is done on haveibeenpwned.com, the service this list comes from.