In the Dark Web they can end up data of the users put up for sale. We are talking for example about stolen social media accounts, bank accounts, passwords, IP addresses, email, phone numbers… We already know that our personal information has great value on the net and hackers use different methods to collect it. In this article we are going to talk about Amibreached , a free online tool that allows us to discover if our mobile number, email or an IP address are on the Dark Web .
What is the Dark Web
We can say that the Dark Web is the hidden part of the Internet where, among other things, forums are hosted to exchange information related to cyber attacks, sale of illegal products, user data that has been stolen, etc. It is, indeed, the part of the Internet where multiple crimes occur.
And yes, when our data is stolen , when we are victims of some type of attack that collects personal information, passwords for our social networks or bank details, it is very likely that they end up here.
Sometimes we are not aware that our data has been stolen and that is an even bigger problem. It is possible that our email address or our telephone number is available, in addition to our personal data, on the Dark Web. There are tools to check if we are victims of this problem, as we are going to see.
Information theft, a problem on the Internet
Without a doubt , information theft is a very present problem on the Internet. Personal data has great value on the web. Attackers are looking for a way to collect that information to include us in spam lists, send targeted advertising or even sell it to third parties.
It is precisely the latter that is most closely related to the Dark Web. Our data can be stolen and put up for sale on the Internet, in hidden forums in this area of the network that we can only access through certain tools and services such as the Tor network.
It is a problem that we can say that it can affect both private users and companies . It is possible to find us with bank cards that have been stolen, personal data such as identification numbers, social network accounts, email… In short, all kinds of data that could put our privacy at risk.
Amibreached, a service to see if our data has been stolen
We can see if our data has been leaked and is exposed on the Internet. For example, we mean to see if our e-mail address is put up for sale on the Dark Web, if our mobile number has been leaked or even the IP address.
A totally free and accessible tool for anyone is Amibreached . It is a service created by Cyble that aims to offer us all that we mentioned. Its operation is really simple and intuitive.
Once we enter the web page we will see a search bar to find if something is found on the Dark Web or in leak databases. We can put names, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, user names, IP addresses, etc.
In addition, under the search bar we will see that we can mark Email, Domain or Telephone , in addition to Global search. In this way we can focus on something in particular or do a more generic search.
When we have written the term that interests us, we simply have to search it, although previously we must check the “I am not a robot” box.
If everything is correct, if you have not found that that term we have searched is on the Dark Web, a message will appear in green: “Above String Appears To Be Safe To Use”.
In addition to this search engine, Amibreached also has different services and plans, both free and paid.
How to prevent data from ending up on the Dark Web
Now we are going to give a series of tips to prevent our data from ending up on the Dark Web . Important recommendations to prevent problems of this type.
Do not expose more information than necessary
Without a doubt, an essential advice is not to expose more information than is really necessary . For example, we talk about not making the email address public when we are going to comment on a public article on the Internet. The same if we are going to comment in a forum.
But this also affects all the records we have on the network. We must not expose more data than is necessary and thus be able to reduce the impact field.
Protect our equipment
It is also essential to properly protect our equipment. Making use of security tools, such as a good antivirus , is very interesting to prevent the entry of malware that could compromise us.
This is something that we must apply regardless of the type of device or operating system that we are using.
Keep the latest versions
Also, having updated devices is going to be very important. There are many vulnerabilities that we can find on the network and that could expose our personal information.
It is therefore vital that we have the latest versions at all times. In this way we will ensure that hackers cannot exploit these flaws.
Download only from official sources
Another issue to keep in mind is the importance of downloading only from sources that are legitimate and official . It is true that we can find third-party sites that offer downloads of applications and software in general, but we cannot guarantee the same security.
Therefore our advice is always to download software from sources that are official. This will prevent our data from ending up on the Dark Web.
Common sense
Last, but perhaps most importantly, common sense . We say that it is something very important because many attacks come after mistakes that users make. For example, downloading attachments that we receive by email that could damage our security or click on malicious links.
Ultimately, these tips could prevent our data from ending up on the Dark Web and could compromise security.
