Cyber Intelligence firm Cybel has notified that over 1 lakh scanned copies of Indian citizen’s Aadhar, PAN card, and passport have been on the dark web for sale. They have said that the data leak does not stem from the government but originates from a third-party source.
Cybercriminals getting access to personal data have vile consequences that include scams, identity theft, espionage, etc. These fraudulent activities would be happening on your account which would mean you can lose money or be threatened over confidential information.
The leak has been associated with KYC- Know Your Customer, a norm that corporates have to follow and maintain a database for. The scanned IDs indicate to have been accessed from this segment and Cyble has said that these scams usually target the elderly.
It would be advised that people don’t share their personal information, especially regarding their finances over call, SMS, or email.
What is Darknet?
It isn’t easy to just stumble upon on darknet and access its information. Our regular internet browsing on webpages is known as the ‘surface web’. The name indicates that our browsing does not go deeper than the surface of the internet.
A deeper place on the internet will be the ‘darknet’. This place is able to hide from users because of the way it is built. To access the darknet, there needs to be specific software installed which has a browser that would give access to the darknet. It can’t be opened without the software such as ‘Tor’.
Why is it used?
Just like its name, the place is up to no good. Cybercriminals use this place to perform crimes such as file corruption, hacking, and so on. It also allows file sharing of sensitive nature or illegal items. There is also trading of restricted goods here.
On a slightly better side, it can also be used to protect a citizen’s privacy from mass surveillance. Whistleblowers may be able to reveal real data on this platform and leak news that is being hidden.
Take it by its face value…
While there might be better use cases of the darknet or also called dark web, it is best to not stroll in this corner like how you wouldn’t stroll in a dark street. A lot of illegal activities take place here and there is lot of fuel for cybercriminals. It is best to encrypt our data and be very careful when exchanging personal information on devices.
