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Do you know that over 2 billion accounts were hacked in 2018? I'll give a very basic overview. #Thread.
Hacking sounds trivial and one always wonders if their bitter ex or business partner could hack into their account but it gets weird from here onwards. (1/10) >
Hacking sounds trivial and one always wonders if their bitter ex or business partner could hack into their account but it gets weird from here onwards. (1/10) >
Most of the 'hacks' are done not to target a single account but a server of a company (Facebook, Yahoo, etc), and the data is collected, sold to the highest bidder, or just dumped out in the open for everyone to scavenge.
How does it happen? >
How does it happen? >
Computers, however smart they may be, are operated by humans at the end of the day.
Imagine a top of the line security company, 6'4 tall guards muscular guards with best in class German and American weaponry but at the time of need, the guard faints or gun jams?
What? What!? >
Imagine a top of the line security company, 6'4 tall guards muscular guards with best in class German and American weaponry but at the time of need, the guard faints or gun jams?
What? What!? >
Hackers spend day in and day out looking for a weak spot, a vulnerability, a bad line of code that could cripple the server that thousands of engineers at software companies missed, or perhaps a bad configuration by IT staff which leaves the backdoor open for hackers to enter. >
They use this vulnerability to breach the system, copy the data and either clean their tracks or sometimes just leave a sweet message on the website. (Deface Website) >
When data is copied, there are usually 2 outcomes:
1. Sold to a party - Which may have dozens of agendas. Starting from blackmailing and extorting something out of you or most commonly, they use that stolen username/password combo to find more accounts where that password works>
1. Sold to a party - Which may have dozens of agendas. Starting from blackmailing and extorting something out of you or most commonly, they use that stolen username/password combo to find more accounts where that password works>
When data is copied, there are usually 2 outcomes:
2: Dumped on some site like Pastebin for people to do whatever they feel like doing.
Wondering...why all the effort to hack just to throw away the data? Well, sometimes they need to flex their muscles and show who is the boss >
2: Dumped on some site like Pastebin for people to do whatever they feel like doing.
Wondering...why all the effort to hack just to throw away the data? Well, sometimes they need to flex their muscles and show who is the boss >
So what's the solution, you ask?
Simple. Pray to God that your favorite websites don't get hacked.
JK. Practically, you should start by making sure that ALL your passwords are different. God forbid if you use the same password for all - One hack could unlock all your accounts >
Simple. Pray to God that your favorite websites don't get hacked.
JK. Practically, you should start by making sure that ALL your passwords are different. God forbid if you use the same password for all - One hack could unlock all your accounts >
Best bet?
Subscribe to a service like @haveibeenpwned so that the moment your email is spotted in the wild, they send you an email notifying you where it was last seen & for you to quickly change your password(s)
Lately, Google has been doing the same for chrome-saved passwords.
Subscribe to a service like @haveibeenpwned so that the moment your email is spotted in the wild, they send you an email notifying you where it was last seen & for you to quickly change your password(s)
Lately, Google has been doing the same for chrome-saved passwords.
