In my previous posts, I touched upon how hackers access cloud accounts and steal a users data. But where does the data go? The Dark Web, may be the answer. In this post I will discuss how much data gets sold for on the dark web and how it is done.

What is the Dark Web?

The Dark Web is a collection of websites found on the World Wide Web that hides the IP addresses of the people that run them. To access the dark web you need special software’s that allows you to surf it. Almost all of the sites hide their identity and spoof their locations using the encryption tool, Tor. The Dark Web can said to be the “underground” of the internet, whereby all it’s users are hidden and encrypted.

In July 2015, a group calling themselves The Impact Team claimed to have stolen 37 million user identities from cloud based server Ashley Madison, a dating website marketed to people in married or committed relationships. The following month there was 2 large dumps of peoples personal details put on the dark web using Tor. This led to terrible affects on the people’s lives.

The Real Deal

TheRealDeal is a site found on the Dark Web which sells a variety of user’s personal data. The site uses Tor anonymity software and a digital currency called Bitcoin.  It works on a multi-signature model that involves the buyer, the seller and the administrators choosing an address whereby all the Bitcoins are held. To make a transaction two out of three of the parties have to approve before the funds are transferred.

The website offers a variety of different offers including iCloud accounts, which can cost $17,000 in Bitcoins. In my last post I wrote about how healthcare records are at risk of being stolen from cloud-based accounts. TheRealDeal was one of the dark websites that they were sold on. There was nearly 10 million records posted on the site that contained personal identifiable information. The  user who claimed released the records named themselves thedarklord.

The hacker also left a note on the dark web indicating that they tried to extort payments from the healthcare before putting it up for sale on the dark web. Healthcare is very valuable if accessed as it can be resold over and over again which also makes it very dangerous.

Ransomware

Once a hacker is able to enter a user’s cloud account they can then decide what they chose to do with the information. One option that has became popular is making the user pay a ransom to get control over their account again. This can be done by a software called Ransomware, this is designed to encrypt a victims files and hold them hostage unless they pay a ransom in Bitcoins. The software was made popular on Dark Web bulletins and costs $1000 a month.

In some results, all of the data from cloud accounts have been wiped clean due to how the software was programmed creating technical errors. This is why it is vital that your information is stored securely otherwise you can be at risk of losing photos, videos or files that are important to you. There are lots of different software that can take over your account and make you pay a ransom to retrieve your data,  Ransomware is just one of them.

The dark web can be a malicious place for buying, selling and spreading important personal information. This emphasizes why it is so important to keep your data secure in the cloud.  In my next blog I will give tips on how to keep your cloud account safe and how anyone can have their security breached.