The Digital You is a powerful thing. It’s made up of more than just your finances or the way you are viewed on social media. It encompasses all the information available about you on and sometimes, offline. This also includes any information that other people can access, oftentimes without your knowledge.
Even if you are careful with how you share your personal information, there are still ways that it can slip through the cracks and end up in the hands of malicious entities. The truth is, your personal information is put at risk every time you provide your details to companies, apply for loans, or fall for a scam.
What happens in the event that your data falls into the hands of a criminal ? Where does it go?
Many times, this information will end up for sale on the Dark Web. If you don’t know what the Dark Web is, it is about as sinister of a place as the name suggests. For this reason, it is important to learn what the Dark Web is and how it can affect the Digital You.
Where is the Dark Web?
You may wonder, “If the Dark Web is a part of the web, then couldn’t I just Google myself to see if any results turn up?”. You could, but it wouldn’t yield much. The websites and material on the Dark Web are not indexed by search engines. In other words, if you try standard search for yourself, its pretty useless. To truly understand what the Dark Web is, you should have an idea of what the entire web is comprised of…
The internet as a whole is more than what you see when you visit your favourite websites. The truth is, the websites you frequent only makeup about 4% of the entire web. The other 96% consists of an area named the Deep Web.
The Deep Web is comprised of archives and subsections of websites accessible through passwords or other qualifying information. Things like your medical records, government databases, or social media accounts all live in this deep web below the surface web that you usually interact with. The Dark Web resides in this area, hidden behind layers of encryption and anonymity.
Why Do Criminals Use the Dark Web?
To access the Dark Web, one would need specific browsers ( TOR, etc.) in order to remain safe and anonymous. It is this same anonymity that makes the Dark Web a haven for criminal activity. Dark Web sites allow criminals to freely perform malicious activities with significantly lower chances of getting caught.
A person’s information initially ends up on the Dark Web through different outlets, such as scams and breaches. Many of the sites on the Dark Web act as market places for stolen details and personal information. In these market places, criminals will sell and trade information freely.
Once a criminal has compiled enough of someone’s personal information, they can use it to commit fraud. The scary part is that compiling these details is not a difficult task to accomplish. In fact, an identity can be purchased for as little as £800 on the Dark Web. This doesn’t include other information and accounts a criminal may be interested in acquiring, some of which sell for much less.
How Can You Protect Yourself?
Sometimes to protect yourself from the bad guys, you need to think like a bad guy. So it is important to find a Dark Web monitor that will do the same.
When trying to collect someone’s identity, criminals typically establish an initial profile using a stolen email address. From there, they build the profile by collecting personal details such as name, address and email address. They also look for financial data such as your payment card and bank details.
At ScoresMatter, we take a similar approach by searching the Dark Web based on your email address to yield the broadest results. This way, you can check if you are at risk of criminals using your personal and financial data.
Our scan provides alerts that summarise changes in your risk status and teach you what to do if your personal data is compromised. We also provide blogs and tips on how to keep you and your data safe while you are on and offline.
When it comes to keeping the Digital You safe, time is of the essence. You can act now by trying our Dark Web Scan today.
Tap Into The Digital You at ScoresMatter.