Lesson 4.Who may get their hands on your data?

In this lesson you will learn where your data may end up.

There is a large amount of information about you on the Internet. Anything that you ever uploaded or sent online can be found. Even confidential information transmitted to banks. What’s more, the number of massive data leaks has hit a new high over the past couple of years. We are no longer surprised by yet another company being hacked and their customers’ data being leaked. That means not only is more and more of our data floating around online—but it’s become more vulnerable. But who needs this information?

Anyone who wishes you harm or tries to profit from you.

As we have already discussed in previous lessons, the reasons for doxing vary. Aside from messing with a target for fun or bringing the whole Internet’s wrath upon a victim, personal data can be used for extortion, financial scams, and even impersonation. Unfortunately, even if we take good care of how and with whom we share our personal data, we are not immune from being doxed.

The abusers may be motivated enough to turn to the black market in the hope of finding personal information that will do real harm, for instance, login information to access victims’ social media accounts. Many countries are making an effort to better protect personal data, but it is still not 100% safe. In some cases, stolen data is used to extort a ransom; in others it is published out in the open. But most of it ends up on the dark web as a commodity, and a very accessible one.

Darknet forums and markets, essentially marketplaces for illegal physical and digital goods, are used by cybercriminals to sell services and products, from malware to personal data. And you will be surprised how cheap your data is.

·       ID Card data: $0.5 – $10

·       Passport scans:  $6 - $15

·       Driver’s license scan: $5-$25

·       Selfie with documents: $40-$60

·       Medical records: $1 - $30

·       Credit card details: $6 - $20

·       Online banking and PayPal accounts: $50 - $500

·       Subscription services: $0.5 - $8

·       Unauthorized access to email and social media: $400 - $800

Data sold on dark market websites can be used for extorting money, executing spam and phishing schemes, and directly stealing money.

Certain types of data, such as access to personal accounts or password databases, can be abused not just for financial gain but also for reputational harm and other types of social damage. Let’s see an example: The police break into a house of a man and detain him. Let’s call him Jack. So, the police break into Jack’s house and detain him. At the police station, it turns out that someone had used his selfie with his passport to conduct fraudulent sales--and steal money from unsuspecting buyers. The cybercriminal then went into hiding and the deceived buyers contacted the police using the passport data from the photograph.

So, the deceived buyers contacted the police using the passport data from the photograph—and they came to arrest Jack. Of course, when everything was clarified, Jack was released, but the lost time and nerves cost him dearly. And he did not even know how this photo was leaked.

So can you be sure that all your data is safe? To protect yourself, you should know the ways you can be doxed. These ways will be discussed in our next lesson.