BreachScan

Inspiration

With the increasing number of data breaches, personal information is constantly at risk. We wanted to create a simple, fast, and accessible tool that allows users to check if their email has been exposed in any past data breaches. Our goal was to raise awareness and encourage better security practices.

What it does

BreachScan is an AI-enhanced cybersecurity tool that empowers users to check if their email has been exposed in a data breach. With a simple interface, users enter their email, and within seconds, the app:

Scans the Dark Web & Breach Databases – Uses the Have I Been Pwned API combined with AI-driven anomaly detection to uncover leaked credentials and suspicious patterns.

AI-Powered Risk Scoring – Leverages machine learning algorithms to assess the severity of breaches, analyzing factors such as breach type, exposure level, and frequency.

Smart Security Insights – AI recommends personalized security actions, like password resets or multi-factor authentication, based on the breach history.

With AI-driven intelligence, BreachScan transforms cybersecurity from reactive to proactive, ensuring users stay ahead of threats before they escalate.

How we built it

BreachScan was developed using a tech stack that combines AI-driven threat analysis with seamless mobile integration. The frontend was built with React Native (Expo), ensuring a smooth, cross-platform experience with a sleek UI powered by React Native Paper.

On the backend, we integrated the Have I Been Pwned API, using asynchronous data processing and secure API authentication to retrieve breach data in real time. To enhance security insights, we incorporated AI-driven risk analysis, which evaluates breach severity based on historical patterns, exposure level, and breach sources. Our machine learning model helps identify trends and provides users with personalized security recommendations to improve their digital safety.

We optimized the app with caching mechanisms, ensuring fast responses while minimizing API rate limits. With a focus on both performance and cybersecurity awareness, BreachScan transforms complex breach detection into a user-friendly, AI-powered security assistant.

Tools and technologies:

Frontend: We crafted the mobile application using React Native with Expo, allowing for rapid development and cross-platform deployment. This approach enabled us to build a smooth, user-friendly interface that feels native on both iOS and Android devices.

Backend: At the core of the app, we leveraged the Have I Been Pwned API to retrieve real-time breach data. By utilizing efficient RESTful API calls, we ensured swift responses and minimal latency when querying for email breach status.

UI/UX: The app’s design was carefully crafted using React Native Paper, which allowed us to implement a sleek, responsive interface with interactive components that guided users through the breach-checking process effortlessly.

Data Flow: We built the app to handle user input, validate email addresses, and asynchronously fetch results from the API. The app dynamically updates with breach details and risk scores based on the response from the API, providing users with a clear overview of their data security status.

Challenges we ran into

API Key Requirement: We had to set up authentication for the API, which required extra configuration.

Handling API Rate Limits: Since Have I Been Pwned limits requests, we had to ensure we handled errors gracefully.

Error Handling & UI Improvements: Managing invalid emails, no breach results, and connection issues took some fine-tuning.

Built With

• expo.io
• fetch
• haveibeenpwned
• javascript
• leakcheck
• reactnative
• reactnativepaper