The dark web is a place that offers criminals the chance to buy and sell stolen records for future illicit financial gain. A record could contain a Social Security number, a bank account number, medical file, login details, debit card number, or other personal data that can come in physical or electronic form. Often, many believe that the only information that is being exchanged on such illegal platforms are consumer records, but those aren’t the only records that have value – business records, too, can offer great chances for quick financial gain.
Many organized cybercrime rings and thieves run websites that are much like legal businesses, but they sell illegally obtained information. The unsuspecting victim businesses have no idea that their account information is on the dark web, and criminals may be purchasing the valuable information based on a percentage of how much is there in the business’s financial bank accounts for the taking.
For those who prefer to buy credit card information, the dark web has pages that offer special packages to its nefarious customers. Many of the account details in the packages contain not only the credit or debit card number, but they also contain the PIN numbers, date of birth of the business owner, answers to security questions, etc. And the worst part about it is that this information is priced as low as $15 to $30 per record.
Where does all of this information come from? Data breaches. A data breach can be of the victim business itself through the accidental exposure of their sensitive business information, or it can be of no fault of their own. We often see this happen through third-party vendors or cloud storage. These are indirect but yet major targets for hackers as they harbor many businesses’ information, and if the criminal is successful, they can gain information from more than one company in one fell swoop.
A tip that we suggest is for you to vet your third-party vendors very well before willingly passing over your business information or information on your clients. It is also a good idea to keep backups of all of the information from your business on a drive separate from a cloud provider as the third-party vendors get hacked more often than the news can event report. And when those data breaches occur, often the information is held for ransom and then sold on the dark web (even if the ransom is paid!).
LibertyID is the leader in identity theft restoration, having restored the identities of tens of thousands of individuals without fail. If you retain personal information on your customers, now is the time to get data breach planning and a response program in place with our LibertyID for Small Business data breach preparation program. With LibertyID Enterprise you can now add value to existing products, services, or relationships by covering your customers, employees, or members with LibertyID’s fully managed identity theft restoration service—at a fraction of our retail price—with no enrollment and no file sharing. We have no direct communication with your group members–until they need us.
Call us now for a no obligation proposal at 844-411-LIBERTY (844-411-5423).