Unfortunately, this happens way more often than we would like.\u00a0How many times in your personal life have you gotten weird emails from friends, family, and business associates?\u00a0My family knows not to open anything from Grandpa, because he is frequently hacked \u2026 sorry to call you out, Pop-Pop!<\/p>\n
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So just what is the dark web?<\/strong><\/p>\n Simply put, the dark web is where cyber criminals go to sell and traffic just about everything.\u00a0Sadly, this includes drugs, stolen goods, your data and identity, and most tragically even people.\u00a0Data breaches are common news today.\u00a0AT&T is currently doing\u00a0damage control denying<\/a>\u00a0that 70 million of their account holders\u2019 credentials were auctioned off on the dark web. 70,000,000 \u2026 that\u2019s a lot of people!\u00a0If this turns out to be a true breach, the impact is enormous.<\/p>\n One of the big businesses on the dark web is the buying and selling of information.\u00a0Account login information typically follows a pattern:<\/p>\n First, your information is compromised.\u00a0This can happen in any number of ways, as I\u2019ve written about before.<\/p>\n Second, that compromised information is validated.\u00a0The cyber criminals bank on the fact that we do not often change our passwords, and that we often use the same ones in multiple places.\u00a0Credentials that can access multiple accounts are more valuable.<\/p>\n Third, the validated credentials are auctioned off.\u00a0Cybercriminals fetch a couple of dollars per identity, but they sell so many this adds up to a lot of money.<\/p>\n Fourth, whoever purchases this validated data can then get down to the real dirty work.\u00a0This includes stealing your identity, ruining your credit, stealing your money, and tricking your friends, family, and associates into giving up their identities and money.<\/p>\n What can I do about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have written about this a number of times, so I won\u2019t repeat the details here.\u00a0The short story is that you need to be vigilant and always cautious when providing your credentials, but even that may not be enough.\u00a0Make sure you have good anti-virus\/anti-malware software in place and leverage tools like\u00a0LastPass<\/a>\u00a0password locker to set up complex and unique passwords.\u00a0Your cable company likely provides firewall services with the router\/gateway they supplied \u2013 these can be a great help with preventing you from accessing a bad link or website.<\/p>\n How do I know if my information is out there?<\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately, no software or techniques out there can 100 percent guarantee that your identity will not be stolen or your systems won\u2019t be hacked. It can happen from your desktop, tablet, or cellphone<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, if you are curious about whether your email account is exposed, there is a free website that I like to use when I can\u2019t run a deep dark web scan for my customers.<\/p>\n The site is\u00a0https:\/\/www.HaveIBeenPwned.com<\/a>\u00a0and will list some basic information about whether your email account has been found on the dark web.\u00a0According to the site, \u201cThe word \u201cpwned\u201d has origins in video game culture and is a leetspeak derivation of the word \u2018owned\u2019, due to the proximity of the \u2018o\u2019 and \u2018p\u2019 keys. It\u2019s typically used to imply that someone has been controlled or compromised, for example \u2018I was pwned in the Adobe data breach\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Small and mid-sized businesses can take advantage of more sophisticated dark web monitoring provided by IT service providers like\u00a0CMIT of SE-WI<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you do see your\u00a0e<\/a>mail account<\/a>\u00a0listed, you should change your\u00a0email password\u00a0<\/a>immediately.\u00a0Be sure to use something that is complex, unique, and not easily guessed.\u00a0If you\u2019re like most people, you are using the same password with your email account as the ID in many places.\u00a0If you\u2019re also like most people, you have no idea where you\u2019ve been using them!\u00a0Hit your major social media sites and certainly any banking and financial sites you use to change your passwords at these as well.<\/p>\n A very small investment in a password locker tool allows you to generate random, large, complex passwords and not have to worry about keeping them safe.\u00a0When a data breach does occur and one of your accounts is affected, you can have the peace of mind that the exposure is limited to just one site.<\/p>\n![\"Keep](\"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/kenosha-wi-1018\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/76\/2021\/08\/dark_web_data_feature-scaled-1-300x200-1.jpg\")
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