ARE YOU ON ON THE DARK WEB?
The Dark Web and Your Email Address
Major data breaches at banks and sites like Yahoo, Facebook and Yahoo, where 3 billion accounts were comprised, mean that your personal data can travel to the dark web, the part of the World Wide Web that is only accessible by means of special software, allowing users and website operators to remain anonymous or untraceable and also conduct criminal activity.
When massive data breaches happen at businesses at which you have an account, you can assume that your personal data has likely made it to the dark web. That could mean, for instance, your user name and password at a bank or credit card institution have been compromised.
The free site “
Have I been pwned” provides a comprehensive list of major data breaches. It allows you to check if your email address has been hacked and which sites it has been breached on.
Once criminals get your personal data, it’s immediately copied multiple times, so don’t expect to get your compromised data back and out of the criminals' hands.
Again, the best protection for an individual is good password etiquette. This includes changing your password often and making sure you have different passwords, which cannot be easily guessed and are reasonably long, for each account.