by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Networking, Online Marketing, Sales, Social Media, Technology
New Delhi : Your personal data may be up for sale on Dark Web for as low as Rs 3,500 that includes stolen social media accounts, banking details and credit card information from sites like Uber as well as gaming and porn websites, a new research has warned.
According to cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab that investigated Dark Web markets to find out how much personal data is worth, cyber criminals can sell someone’s complete digital life for less than $50 (nearly Rs 3,500).
“This can include data from stolen social media accounts, banking details, remote access to servers or desktops, and even data from popular services like Uber, Netflix, and Spotify, as well as gaming websites, dating apps, and porn websites which might store credit card information.”
The Dark Web, also referred to as the Dark Net, is an encrypted portion of the internet that is not indexed by search engines.
The Kaspersky researchers found that the price paid for a single hacked account is lower, with most selling for about $1 per account and with criminals offering up discounts for bulk-buying.
“It is clear that data hacking is a major threat to us all, and this applies at both an individual and societal level, because stolen data funds many social evils,” said David Jacoby, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab.
Data stolen due to people’s lax security may have limited resale value, but can be put to many uses.
“This can cause huge problems for an individual victim, who may lose money and their reputation, find themselves being chased for debt that somebody else has incurred in their name, or even suspected of a crime that somebody else has committed using their identity as a cover,” said researchers.
The most common way criminals steal this sort of data in the first place is via spear phishing campaigns or by exploiting a web related security vulnerability in an application’s software.
After a successful attack, the criminal gets password dumps which contain a combination of emails and passwords for the hacked services.
“With many people using the same password for several accounts, attackers might be able to use this information to access accounts on other platforms too,” said Kaspersky Lab.
Interestingly, some criminals selling data even provide their buyers with a lifetime warranty, so if one account stops working, the buyer will receive a new account for free.
“There are steps we can take to prevent it, including by using cybersecurity software, and being aware of how much data we are giving away for free – particularly on publicly available social media profiles, or to organisations,” Jacoby noted.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Marketing Basics, Markets, Online Marketing, Social Media, Technology
Moscow/New Delhi : Twitter has banned Russia-based cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab from advertising on its platform, stating that the company “operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practices.”
In an open letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Kaspersky Lab’s Founder Eugene Kaspersky has termed the move as “potential political censorship”.
“At the end of January, Twitter unexpectedly informed us about an advertising ban on our official accounts where we announce new posts on our various blogs on cybersecurity (including, for example, Securelist and Kaspersky Daily) and inform users about new cyberthreats and what to do about them,” Eugene wrote on Friday.
“In a short letter from an unnamed Twitter employee, we were told that our company ‘operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practices,'” he added.
Kaspersky Lab spent around $93,000 to promote its content on Twitter in 2017 and its India advertising share on Twitter was around $13,580.
“No matter how this situation develops, we won’t be doing any more advertising on Twitter this year.
“The whole of the planned Twitter advertising budget for 2018 will instead be donated to the @EFF. They do a lot to fight censorship online,” Eugene tweeted on Saturday.
According to a report in Cyberscoop, a Twitter spokesperson pointed towards the September 2017 decree from US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that ordered federal agencies to remove Kaspersky products from their networks.
“Kaspersky Lab may remain an organic user on our platform, in accordance with the Twitter Rules,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Register.
“Twitter is playing into the hands of cybercriminals when it hinders the delivery of important information on protection from cyberthreats,” Eugene said.
“The majority of our promoted content on Twitter has been about cybersafety and research and reports about the information security industry. We believe that this content brings value to a variety of Twitter users.”
“Twitter, if this is a matter of a decision being made in error, please openly admit this; people’d forgive you – everyone makes mistakes! I think that would be the only civilized way to quash any doubts about potential political censorship on Twitter,” Eugene said.
The Kaspersky Lab founder said that more than two months have passed and the only reply he received from Twitter was the copy of the same boilerplate text.
“Accordingly, I’m forced to rely on another (less subtle but nevertheless oft and loudly declared) principle of Twitter’s – speaking truth to power – to share details of the matter with interested users and to publicly ask that you, dear Twitter executives, kindly be specific as to the reasoning behind this ban,” he said.
—IANS
