The massive credit card data breach of 45 lakh Air India customers has come as a shocker as it exposes these flyers to the risk of financial fraud and being cheated of their hard-earned money. Here are the important steps you should take if your credit card or debit card is part of a data breach.

Cancel Your Card

Call your bank or card issuer and request a new credit or debit card. If a debit card was involved, you'll also want to change the PIN on the account. Some banks and issuers automatically shut down your card and send a new one when they know it's been compromised.

Check Your Accounts

You need to check bank and credit card statements for suspicious activity or purchases, as well as going online to check recent activity.

If your card is used before you were aware of the data breach and it is used by a thief, you will have to take up the issue immediately with your bank or card issuer so that the liability is not foisted on you. 

Change Passwords

You must change your passwords on those accounts, as well as the password to any account that has been breached. If you re-use some form of those passwords on other accounts, you should change those, too.