Ignorance is a hacker’s bliss, so you need to know more about the dark web to keep your business safe, says Metro Communications' Peter Matthews.
Last month, I met with a technology company that specialises in accessing the back rooms of the dark web. We’re looking to work with them, and out of interest, I asked whether they could find any of my data.
The answer, unsettlingly, was yes. One personal email address was discovered and a very old password was also found. This could have been the starting point for criminals to access my bank accounts and credit card. Fortunately, that password was extinct and I’m always on the alert for phishing attacks and other cyber hacks. I also use a password manager and multifactor authentication nowadays to increase security, but that experience was an ear-splitting wake-up call.
More worrying were the details of others who had the same name as me. Home addresses, passport numbers, credit card details, including three-digit CVV codes, answers to password hints – a mass of data was there.
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