Foretrace Employee User Guide

what is foretrace? foretrace is a personal identity protection tool your employer is providing to you every day, criminals steal and trade personal information online this happens through large scale data breaches (when a company you use gets hacked and your account details are stolen), through malware that silently extracts saved passwords and browsing data from infected devices, and through data broker websites that collect and sell personal information without most people ever realizing it foretrace scans these sources on your behalf and shows you exactly what information of yours is out there such as your passwords, email addresses, phone number, home address, and more it then helps you understand what it means and what you can do about it your employer cannot see any of this your foretrace profile is completely private your employer sets up your access, but they have no visibility into your results, your risk score, or anything you do inside the product getting started enrolling in foretrace step 1 — accept your invitation you'll receive an invitation email from your security or it team click the link inside the email to get started if you don't see it, check your spam or junk folder step 2 — create your account follow the on screen prompts to set up your foretrace account you'll use your work email address to log in step 3 — add your personal information this is the most important step the more information you provide, the better foretrace can find exposures tied to you press add additional email at the top enter your additional email address and foretrace will send a verification email please note this email is only valid for 15 minutes so ensure you press it during that time frame step 4 — let foretrace get to work once you've completed enrollment, foretrace will begin scanning immediately your results will start populating within a short time you don't need to do anything else, foretrace runs in the background and will notify you if something new surfaces finding your way around when you log in, you'll arrive at your main dashboard here's what you'll see at the top right of the screen, you'll find a dropdown showing which email address you're currently viewing results for if you've added more than one email, you can switch between them here each email has its own set of results the "add additional email" button sits next to the dropdown use this any time you want to add another email address to your account the rest of the page walks you through your results section by section, from your overall security grades down to the specific pieces of information that have been found your security posture near the top of your dashboard, you'll see two grades, think of them like a report card for your personal security they update over time as new exposures are found or as you take action to improve data exposure this grade, from a+ (best) to d (worst), reflects how much of your personal information has turned up in known data breaches and dark web sources a low grade doesn't mean someone has broken into your accounts right now it means your information is circulating online and could be used against you the important thing is knowing about it so you can act there are four data points that make up this grade, each with their own individual grade password hygiene this grade measures how strong the passwords tied to your email addresses are it looks at things like whether your password is simple or complex whether the same password has shown up across multiple breaches (a sign it's been reused) whether your password follows common patterns that are easy for attackers to guess for example things like adding a number or exclamation mark to the end of a word security recommendations just below your grades, you'll see a security recommendations banner click "how can i improve?" to see a personalized list of steps based on your specific results this is the best place to start if you've just enrolled and aren't sure where to begin foretrace will prioritize the actions that will have the most impact for you personally identifiable information (pii) this section shows the personal information that has been found in breaches and leaked datasets connected to your email address it's split into four tabs — you can click each one to see what was found account credentials passwords and login credentials that have been exposed these may come from a company you have an account with being hacked, or from malware that extracted saved passwords directly from a device what to do if you recognize a password here and you're still using it anywhere change it immediately even if it's for an account you don't care much about, reusing that password on other accounts puts those at risk too personal identity your name, email addresses, and other identifying details found in leaked datasets this is the kind of information that could be used to impersonate you, guess your security questions, or build a profile about you for targeted scams what to do there's no single action to take here, but being aware of what's out there helps you stay alert to phishing attempts or suspicious contact that uses personal details to seem credible financial data financial account information found in breach data this might include account numbers, card details, or other financial identifiers what to do review anything listed here carefully if you see account information you don't recognize, or information from an account you haven't checked recently, contact your financial institution directly behavioral information this one can feel more alarming, here's what it means some types of malware are designed to silently extract data from infected devices, including your browsing history, saved form data, and session information if any of this data tied to your email has turned up online, it will appear here what to do if you see results in this tab, it's a sign that a device you've used may have been infected at some point change passwords on any accounts you were logged into, and consider running a malware scan on your devices password exposure this section highlights your various passwords that were leaked the first 3 characters of your password will be shown here, with the detected date and the associated source if you see a password you do not recognize note the following possibilities attackers may have created fake data pertaining to you this happens more often than you would expect a hash was returned passwords are usually stored as a “hash” which scrambles your password to a series of numbers and letters attackers may try to reverse the hash but this often requires a very strong computer and can take time if you see a hash change the password associated with that account what to do confirm none of these passwords are still in use if they are, change the associated passwords make sure you are not using those passwords throughout different accounts data breach exposure this section gives you a historical view of the known data breaches your email address has appeared in for each breach, you'll see the name of the company or service that was breached, when it happened, and what type of data was exposed a few things worth knowing old breaches still matter attackers actively use credentials from breaches that happened years ago, especially if those passwords were reused on other accounts you may not have been a direct customer sometimes your information ends up in a breach through a third party service such as a a loyalty program, a partner site, or a company that had your data for a reason you may not immediately recognize what to do for any breach where a password is listed as exposed, check whether you're still using that password anywhere and change it if so online mentions & technical disclosures this section surfaces places where your information has appeared online outside of traditional data breaches online mentions references to your name, email, or other personal details found in public places online, things like forums, public posts, or other open web sources not every mention is a risk, but it's useful to know where your information has appeared technical disclosures more sensitive findings such as api keys, access tokens, or credentials that have been accidentally published somewhere they shouldn't be, like a public code repository or developer forum this is less common for most users, but if something appears here, it warrants attention what to do if you see anything in technical disclosures that looks like a work related credential or access key, let your it or security team know right away managing your email addresses why adding more emails matters each email address you add gets its own full scan email addresses you've had for years, especially older personal addresses you rarely use anymore are often the ones that show up in the most breaches adding them is one of the easiest ways to get a fuller picture of your exposure how to add a new email address click "add additional email" in the top right of your dashboard enter the email address you want to add foretrace will send a verification link to that address to confirm you own it, check that inbox and click the link once verified, foretrace will begin scanning and your results will start populating switching between email addresses use the dropdown in the top right corner to switch between any email addresses you've added each one has its own set of results taking action where to start finding exposures can feel overwhelming at first here's a simple order of priority start with account credentials any exposed password you're still using needs to be changed do this first don't reuse passwords if one of your passwords showed up in a breach, check whether you've used the same password on other accounts and change it everywhere turn on multi factor authentication (mfa) wherever you can mfa means that even if someone has your password, they can't log in without a second step, usually a code sent to your phone enable it on your email accounts and financial accounts at minimum use a password manager a good rule of thumb if you can remember your password, it probably isn't strong enough password managers generate and store complex passwords for you so you don't have to check security recommendations for anything specific to your results your privacy your employer cannot see your risk score, your exposed credentials, or anything else in your foretrace account the personal information you provide is used only to find your exposures it is never sold or shared with third parties if you leave the company, your foretrace access ends with your employment, the same way other employer provided benefits do your personal data is not passed on to your employer