While the internet is undoubtedly the biggest reality of this century, it is claimed by several analysts that the information an ordinary user accesses is just the tip of the iceberg. The vast world of information that is beyond our ability to access is known as the dark web which can not be accessed through normal ID protocols. It is estimated that the information of nearly 1.4 billion people resides in the dark web.
This must be kept in mind that the information available on the deep web is not a single security breach but rather the accumulation of all concealed information that has been accumulated over the years. The data is not encrypted and easily available to any user who can access that system using a static protocol ID.
During an open search by a threat intelligence company, it was found that nearly 41 GB of data has been stolen over the internet which was a depositary of details for nearly 1.4 billion people. The data comes under the subcategory of “stolen, leaked, and lost data”. Nearly 54 security breaches over the years have led to the accumulation of all this stolen data and due to its concealed nature, a huge chaos wasn’t caused as the leak was slow and steady. The data has been stolen from LinkedIn and several other sites that can possibly contain the private information of users.
The security analysts have found that the breach was made easy due to the formation of passwords which were composed of simple predictable terms like the number range “123456” or the range “123456789” or QWERTY, which are the most common types of passwords set and this aids the hacking process for intruders.
A representative of SearchSecurity, an eminent security analyst firm, stated
The reality is that these massive treasure troves of stolen credentials are out there on the dark web. Consumers need to be vigilant about changing their passwords and employing multi-factor authentication to prevent these stolen credentials from being used against them in the future. Consumers’ best protection against stolen credentials being used against them is to regularly change passwords and to use multi-factor authentication wherever possible.
Dark web is a reality and must be considered to be a potential danger to the privacy of people. Dark web is the ugly side of all our information technology which needs some regulation and control mechanism. Not only the concept of privacy has become a myth in recent times, people have started to fear the use of security mechanisms like cloud services and antiviruses as well.
Leave a Reply