New studies show that the dark web is still filled with compromised victims’ data, reaching over 24 billion worth of usernames and passwords. These findings demonstrate a 65% uptick within two years, mostly due to users creating account passwords that hackers could easily crack.
For instance, one in every 200 compromised passwords comprises the number ‘123456’ and the common keyboard combination ‘qwerty.’ Others are also found with a mix of both, with ‘1q2w3e.’
As explained by the analysts, most of the identified stolen data are from organisations that suffered from data breach attacks before the password hashes were cracked by the attackers and leaked on dark web forums. Tools available on these underground marketplaces make it easy for threat operators to crack weakly created passwords.
Even weak passwords could be harder to crack if added with some special characters, such as ‘@,’ ‘_,’ or ‘#.’ If the hackers could not guess a breached account’s password, they would likely proceed to another victim who has their passwords easier to compromise.
Dark web marketplaces remain one of the main income sources for cybercriminals.
Many cybercriminal groups take advantage of the stolen credentials available for purchase on dark web marketplaces since those could help them access their targets and execute further attacks. Experts say that the issue of breached user credentials worsens as time passes.
User accounts, such as email addresses, were always prone to data breach attacks. However, some users are spared from hacking since their passwords are strongly created compared to those who could be easily cracked using malicious tools due to weakly formed passwords.
Numerous large firms worldwide had already been compromised by a data breach attack in one way or another, exposing their staff and clients’ data to the hands of cybercriminals. Although, it is strongly believed that such incidents could have been avoided if people were taught to use strong password combinations and other important knowledge on cybersecurity.
Implementing MFA and creating passwords that are difficult to crack are some of the highly recommended techniques to keep your accounts secure. At this point, users who still use the most common password combinations only expose themselves to chances of being compromised online.
