DISSEMINATION OF BREACHED DATA

Dissemination of Breached Data

Data confidentiality refers to protecting data from unauthorized access and disclosure, including means for protecting personal privacy and proprietary

Data breaches and identity theft are on the rise, and the causes are often due to compromised passwords. Passwords are vital to the security of user accounts.

Cybercriminals have several password-hacking tactics at their disposal, but the easiest one is simply to buy your passwords off the dark web. There’s big money in the buying and selling of login credentials and passwords on the black-market, and if you’ve been using the same password for many years, chances are it’s been compromised.

Cybercriminals and hackers use the passwords to share data with competitors and store it for ransom after stealing credentials. They use people’s payment information for purchase and spy on users through WiFi-connected security cameras.

Internationally, the average cost of a data breach in 2021 for businesses was $3.86 million, according to IBM. In the manufacturing industry specifically, malware that stole credentials and dumped passwords created 922 cyber security incidents in 2020. 73% of these incidents were motivated by financial incentives, while 27% were motivated by espionage. If companies have a data breach caused by stolen credentials, they can lose up to 3% of their overall market value long-term.

Stay away from the obvious. Never use sequential numbers or letters, and for the love of all things cyber, do not use “password” as your password. Come up with unique passwords that do not include any personal info such as your name or date of birth. If you’re being specifically targeted for a password hack, the hacker will put everything they know about you in their guess attempts. Users can protect themselves by using password combinations to keep unauthorized users out of their accounts, using a mix of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, symbols, no ties to your personal information, and no dictionary words, and never saving your password on your phone or use easy dates such as birthdays, middle names, mothers name, etc.