You are probably fully aware that criminals have been selling your user names, passwords, addressees, credit card numbers, etc., in the Internet’s darkest places for a long time. Still, it’s creepy when you see it happen in real-time.
Add to that creepy factor this finding from Israeli security firm Sixgill: Criminals are buying and selling selfies now. Your selfies. Why? Well, for the obvious reason: Selfies have become a credential that’s used for account authentication in some situations. So, they have value to hackers. They are now a part of dossiers that criminals can build against potential targets in order to carry out extensive hacks.
Frankly, you have a lot more to worry about than criminals looking at pictures of you on the dark web. After all, there’s probably plenty of pictures for them to find on the plain-old web. All those millions of SSNs stolen during the Equifax hack is a much greater concern.
Still, it’s really creepy.
“Sixgill has come across several examples of cyber fraudsters selling selfies, along with various other documents, so that buyers can have a complete identity package allowing them to authorize a purchase, open an account on behalf of a victim, and more,” the firm said in a statement. “In a closed Russian forum, one fraudster is selling 100,000 documents in total, for a mere $50,000.”
I asked the firm for some examples. They are pasted below. Again, I think this is more creepy than anything else. But it should make you think twice about where you post security-grade photographs of yourself. Also, face recognition logins have their own set of issues. Last year, a 10-year-old boy was able to log in to his mom’s iPhone because his face was close enough to hers. So, as with all security technologies, proceed with caution.
If you’ve read this far, perhaps you’d like to support what I do. That’s easy. Buy something from my NEW LIBRARY AND E-COMMERCE PAGE, click on an advertisement, or just share the story.
Bob, do you recommend that one use a credit monitoring service?
I am trying to be more positive, so I appreciate your example. Thank you for sending out such good energy into the world! All my best to you.