Money hacks Six ways to protect yourself after a cyber-attack

Almost every week seems to bring news of a cyber-attack on a company, or organisation, and fears over what personal data the hackers have managed to get hold of.

- Rupert Jones

Keep an eye on your inbox

Last month, the footwear and sports apparel company Adidas revealed that some of its customers' personal information had been stolen, although it said passwords, credit card and other payment data were not compromised.

In another incident, the personal data of hundreds of thousands of legal aid applicants in England and Wales dating back to 2010 was accessed. And these came hard on the heels of cyber-attacks that caused huge disruption at Marks & Spencer and the Co-op.

If a news story emerges about a cyber incident, and it is a company or organisation that you use, or have used in the past, keep an eye out for an email from it. Affected companies will usually contact customers to give them more information about what happened and what they should do.

Sometimes it will be a certain category of customer who has had their data stolen, or only people in certain countries.

In the case of Adidas, it appears to be those who have contacted the customer service helpdesk in the past, which will rule out a lot of people. Sometimes, the email will bring good news and say you are not one of those affected.

If your data has potentially been accessed, there will usually be some information on action you should take, or a link to a "frequently asked questions" page. In some cases, you may be offered free access to a support service run by a cybersecurity company, or credit reference agency.

Always make sure you have strong passwords, and do not use the same one on more than one account.