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Comment by graystevens | Hacker News Reader

This is the exact reason I started building Breach Canary[0], so that businesses can be alerted as soon as their user data is used in a way they wouldn't expect it to be. We produce authentic users with real working email addresses and phone numbers, so that as soon as they are contacted, you know someone has a copy of your userbase and is using it for reason x.

We have already started seeing a tonne of DocuSign phishing emails as others have mentioned. They were already a popular target for phishing users but now with very realistic documents the users are expecting? Nightmare.

[0] https://BreachCanary.com

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Sounds like "Have I Been Pwned?"[0] which I have been using to identify which addresses were hacked/sold. Together with a unique email address per site registration, which all get captured by a catch-all on my domains, I have some information on which addresses are compromised.

[0]https://haveibeenpwned.com

To do something similar as an individual, I highly recommend 33mail.com [1], which provides a generous free tier, and lets you supply arbitrary <companyname@yourdomain.33mail.com>. As well as knowing where a leak originated, you can easily block any inbound email address if it is being abused.

Not affiliated, just a happy long-time paying customer.

[1] http://33mail.com/rj37w3

I don't know what the HN policy on referral links is, but here's a link without affiliate tracking:

http://33mail.com

That isn't strictly affiliate tracking, but yes, if you're uncomfortable with 33mail.com knowing you came from HN, don't click ATsch's link, but copy and paste it instead.

I do the same without using 33mail. I have my mail hosted on zoho mail which gives me infinite aliases that get redirected to my main address and in case I ever need to forward a mail from an alias I can create a new address with that alias, use it and then delete it. So when I register to a new site I usually input <sitename>@mydomain.com and then if I want I can create a filter to sort them automatically

me too. any new email address is

businessname@mydomain.io

Already caught a few selling my info

Same. Particularly interesting when you start getting spam to massiveCreditReportingCo@mydomain.com, or who sends mail to boughtaNewCar@mydomain.com after giving that address at the car dealership.

What do you do after you catch them? Is there any place to report them, maybe depending on which country they are based, or you simply stop doing business with them?

If you set up a catch-all for your domain, then you don't even need to create addresses unless you need to reply from that address.

You don't need to 'create' addresses there either, it's a catch-all on your person subdomain, but with one0click blocking.

I presume canary is an established term in this context but since I don't know what it is I don't understand your service. It sounds good though.

Apologies, you're right, it's not really covered as it's a bit of a niche industry term. It relates back to the days of coal mines, and the birds being used as an early warning system - https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/canary_in_a_coal_mine

I wouldn't call it a niche term, maybe in the context of calling something a canary, but the term canary in a coal mine is a common idiomatic expression in American English, at least in the mid-west.

Canaries were used in mines to signal pockets of unbreathable gas; they would die before the humans giving them an opportunity to escape.

Canary has developed into a standard term for warnings which are detecting the danger allowing mitigation as opposed to predicting the danger which would allow avoidance.

> Canary has developed into a standard term for warnings which are detecting the danger

More succinctly, a canary is an early warning system.

This is exactly what I was trying to avoid saying, what kills a Canary kills a human, yet fire isn't always what triggers the fire alarm

It's a reference to the canaries that were used in coal mines to detect carbon monoxide. Since then 'canary' has been used to refer to early warning systems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinel_species

It is coming from the canary birds in the coal mines or in submarines[0]. They have a higher sensibility to CO than humans. This is now part of the common language to say that you sacrifice an animal or "something" to get early warning of something possibly more dangerous.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinel_species#Historical_ex...

Just wondering, what exactly is being sacrificed in this specific case?

It is artificial users when their data is used it means your privacy has been breached. In a way a canary is not just a sacrifice but a transparent sacrifice.

Fake users

See here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_trap

Gorgeous design! Nice to see some cheery bright colors for a change.

The second Get early access box says 'Entry your e-mail address' instead of 'Enter'.

Looks cool though, I subscribed to the list.

Thank you, I'll fix that now :) Serves me right for rushing out a landing page, after reading all the "you should start marketing yesterday" comments on startups!

Edit: fixed

Did you mean "And relax" in your how it works steps?

I do! Well spotted, I'll fix that one shortly

Edit: fixed :)

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