Internet Data Breach

[imoldernu]

No... not a current scare.
But.. after reading of so many large data hacks, like the Marriott attack that involved 500 million accounts, I'm wondering where this all could lead.

Most articles that I've read, seem to leave the attacks at that... "not good". I'm looking for a more comprehensive article that goes further, to explain what the longer term effect of a large scale internet attack might be.

Obviously, it is almost unthinkable, but after having my Netflix account compromised, I wonder where we all would be if the internet was to crash.

Would appreciate any not too technical articles that go further to explain what we might expect... as... what if your internet provider and smartphone were to be unavailable... not for five minutes, but for a year?

Here's an old article (2016) that describes a DDOs attack in simpler terms. Looking for something more up to date.

https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-we-know-about-the-massive-cyber-attack-that-took-down-the-internet-on-friday

 

[AnonEMouse]

Data breaches are different from an "internet crash." The internet is designed to be "survivable" so that if nodes are taken out, messages will reroute thru other available nodes. Which is to say, if a major city is nuked out, internet traffic would automatically reroute around it. Of course any servers in that city would be unavailable, but cities in between could still communicate, assuming that ALL nodes in between aren't destroyed too. Which is a long way of saying that short of destroying the majority of all network connections, you aren't likely to bring down the internet as a whole.


As for data breaches, it looks like the Marriott one along with the OPM and others are a long game of the Chinese government to get as much info as possible on people with access to sensitive info. One such article explaining it here:



https://www.npr.org/2018/12/12/6759...ponsible-for-marriott-data-breach-reports-say

 

[imoldernu]

Thanks for the comeback...
As a step beyond the Marriott breach, found this list of many more on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_data_breaches

Unbeleiveable numbers and FWIW, most go back years. And here's a list... just for the first half of 2018.

https://blog.barkly.com/biggest-data-breaches-2018-so-far

In the latter, a description of the kinds of info obtained... including family member names, and much, much personal info.

From just one hack:

sensitive customer data including user-entered health information, photos, and private messages sent between users. The exposed data also contained Facebook access tokens and, in some cases, unencrypted credit card data including card numbers, expiry dates and card verification values.

 

[MRG]

Thanks for the comeback...
As a step beyond the Marriott breach, found this list of many more on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_data_breaches

Unbeleiveable numbers and FWIW, most go back years. And here's a list... just for the first half of 2018.

https://blog.barkly.com/biggest-data-breaches-2018-so-far

In the latter, a description of the kinds of info obtained... including family member names, and much, much personal info.

From just one hack:

Yes the state of data protection is horrible. When companies raced to make data available through the internet it was pretty easy. Security was sometimes an afterthought. It's not difficult but it takes the skill and a corporate direction of data protection is the most important thing we do.

Megacorp used to employ hackers to attempt to breach our systems. If you focus on data security it's not difficult, but it might take more time to develop new features.

 

[imoldernu]

Yes the state of data protection is horrible. When companies raced to make data available through the internet it was pretty easy. Security was sometimes an afterthought. It's not difficult but it takes the skill and a corporate direction of data protection is the most important thing we do.

Megacorp used to employ hackers to attempt to breach our systems. If you focus on data security it's not difficult, but it might take more time to develop new features.

Yes... but the sheer number of intrusions, makes me wonder how any of us avoid being compromised.
After reading several articles, and learning about how much information has been hacked... what do the hackers do with the information? ie. if the name, address, credit card number and the CSC are known, what is to stop the hacker (or the person he sold the info to) from ordering from Amazon? And according to some articles, info extends to but is not limited to:
Age
Sex
Family members
Social security card
Drivers License
Websites visited
Alternate usernames
Buying history
Organization memberhips
Location Street address
Phone number
Cellphone Number
Automobile info
Home/housing info
Police record
Births, Marriages, Divorce
Nicknames
Banking info
Military info
... and on... not on all sites, but apparently available depending on the hack..

Apparently much of the data is sold by the hacker, to similar businesses to gain advantage through advertising, special offers and the like.

With so much information out there, why aren't there more problems?