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What does pwned mean?

(9 Posts)
ExDancer Tue 11-Nov-25 10:11:25

I've just seen an email headed "you've been pwned" in my inbox. Do I just delete it or open it and see what it's all about?

Elegran Tue 11-Nov-25 10:23:22

My instinct is NOT to open it, If you are interested enough (bored enough?) to want to know what "pwned" means, look it up on Mr Google. To save you the bother, I'll do it for you. there will be a short pause while I do that. watch this space. My first thought is that some troll misyped "owned", which means "gotcha!" in trollese.

MiniMoon Tue 11-Nov-25 10:24:28

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_I_Been_Pwned%3F
This might be helpful.

Elegran Tue 11-Nov-25 10:28:09

Answer from Oxford English Dictionary -

"pwn/pəʊn/ verb informal
past tense: pwned; past participle: pwned

(especially in video gaming) utterly defeat (an opponent or rival); completely get the better of.
"I can't wait to pwn some noobs in this game"

A noob is a newby or beginner. Someone thinks they have got the better of you. If you open the message they WILL HAVE SUCCEEDED so delete it.

Elegran Tue 11-Nov-25 10:30:53

MiniMoon

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_I_Been_Pwned%3F
This might be helpful.

That is interesting, minimoon

eddiecat78 Wed 12-Nov-25 07:34:18

We had this email yesterday as a result of us signing up to a website ages ago that alerts us if our email address has been involved in a breach of security. In this case it was a breach that happened in April.
The purpose of the message is to advise us to change all the passwords linked to that email address

Flippinheck Wed 12-Nov-25 08:02:33

That seems to be a helpful website then but might be defeating its own objective if we all think it is malicious.

ExDancer Wed 12-Nov-25 10:00:27

Well thanks for taking the trouble to educate me folks. My head's spinning at all those made-up words Elegran and the Websites were interesting Minimoon and others.
I wonder why these people bother, what a waste of time.

Elless Wed 12-Nov-25 10:20:18

I've used this in the past and I've got 2 sons in IT who said it was reliable.