vpnMentors research team discovered a hack affecting 80 million American households.
Known hacktivists Noam Rotem and Ran Locar discovered anunprotected database impacting up to 65% of US households.
The Danger of Exposing this Information
This isnt the first time a huge database has been breached.
This open database is a goldmine for identity thieves and other attackers.
Heres how:
Cyber Attacks
Access to your full name can help hackers guess your email address.
Many people use name.familyname@gmail.com as their email address.
While this makes sense, it alsomakes you easy to identify.
Phishing scams can take many forms, andransomware is one of the most dangerous.
Commonly, this happens when dangerous links are embedded in emails; opening them infects your machine.
Real World Dangers
Your name and cityare enough to run a comprehensive internet search.
Everything you post is open to the internet including the vacation photos you uploaded that morning.
Thegeotag shows that youre thousands of miles awayfrom home.
It gets worse:your age is in the database too.
This scenario is just the tip of the iceberg.
Addresses can easily lead to phone numbers, making people easy targets for phishing scams.
Dates of birth and postal codes are common answers to security questions.
And longitude and latitude mean your home can be pinpointed and watched.
Of course, there are ways to stay safe online and in the real world.
For example, secure your home with alarms, and your internet connection with atop-rated VPN.
This will help keep you safe, wherever you are.
How We Discovered the Leak
The research team is currently undertaking a hugeweb mapping project.
They use port scanning to examine known IP blocks.
This reveals open holes in web systems, which they then examine for weaknesses and data leaks.
Usually, researchers suspect where the leak is coming from.
They can thenexamine the database to confirm its identity.
Thishelps build a safer and more protected internet.
Although we investigated the database online, we didnt download it.
Why This Data Breach is Different
This time, its different.
The database that the team discovered includes identifying information for more than 80 million households across the United States.
As most households include more than one resident, the database could directlyimpact hundreds of millions of individuals.
vpnMentor is calling on the public to help identify the database and kill the leak.
Unlike previous leaks we’ve discovered, this time, we haveno idea who this database belongs to.
The data includes uniform entries for more than80 million households, making it almost impossible to narrow down.
This made us suspect that the database is owned by aninsurance, healthcare, or mortgage company.
However, information one may expect to find in a database owned by brokers or banks is missing.
For example, there are no policy or account numbers, social security numbers, or payment types.
What service would collect your homeowner status and dwelling jot down but not your social security number?
And what service records that youre married but not how many children you have?
The 80 million families listed heredeserve privacy, and we need your help to protect it.
Pleaseshare this report on Facebookortweet itso other security professionals can help us identify and resolve this leak.
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