Beware of the car: database of US car owners released on the DarkNet

Today, CoolTechZone experts discovered that an unknown hacker had put up the data of US car owners for sale on the DarkWeb.

This leak threatens with serious consequences for those who find themselves in this database since the hacker made public all the confidential information, namely:

• car owner addresses
• phone numbers
• place of residence
• information about the car (class, vin, etc.)

Okay, let's figure out what the disclosure of such information is fraught.

What data was a hack?

The cybercriminal claims the database contains over 266 million lines of car owner phone numbers.

In addition to phone numbers, the database contains all confidential data about car owners, down to the technical characteristics of their car.

The perpetrator also attached a piece of the database for download, and we managed to find out that a lot of the data was already out of date. After looking at the first 100,000 lines, we noticed that the database contains information dated 2000 - 2014, and some of the car's owners may no longer be alive.

Later, an attentive user of the DarkNet forum also noticed that the database was outdated.

Either way, a leaked database can still be dangerous because it contains all data about the car owners.

Leakage consequences

It is difficult to assess how severe the impact of the leak will be since the data of the published database is out of date. However, some users will still want to acquire such valuable information that can be used for blackmail or other purposes.

The hacker accepts payment for the database in cryptocurrency but does not give an exact price for his product. Probably, he will announce a different price to each buyer.

However, despite the outdated data, this is still a serious security threat. I urge you to take care of your Internet security, so let's discuss what you can do to keep your data secret from third parties.

How do I keep my data safe?

Hackers do not sleep, so I urge you to follow the rules of safety on the Internet. One wrong step − and your data can be put up for sale and transferred to third parties.

So, to ensure maximum online privacy, follow these simple rules:

• Use VPN services. It's the main rule of security because VPN services block traffic and hide your real IP address. VPN apps make you a ninja in dangerous internet space.
• Only use private search engines that do not track your location or collect data about you.
• If your Internet interlocutor asks to transfer money to a bank account or is interested in your place of work and address − immediately stop the correspondence and block the curious interlocutor.