Three Hackers Walk Into a Cafe... and Facetime Me

"I Facetime with my sister and two-year-old niece all the time. It’s one of my favorite uses of technology, but when I answered their call on a recent Tuesday night, I was greeted by three strange men waiving at me from an internet cafe. It was a real shock. I hung up, they called again. Each time, my sister’s photo came up on the screen which made it upsetting. I wondered, in an old-fashioned way – are the lines crossed? Could phone lines even be crossed in the age of cellular technology?! Then, I started to get texts and threats from her phone number. I couldn’t believe my sister or I had been hacked. I emailed my sister to not make contact with me over the phone for the time being. We both tested some things and turns out it was me they were after. A bit rattled, I began to dig in. "

"Come to find out, these hackers spoofed my sister’s old work number which was still in my phone under her name. They had enough information to piece together our relationship and then make easy contact with me because, of course, I would answer her call."

"A friend of mine in digital forensics ran my information for me. She came back with many hits for my information on a variety of stolen lists on the dark web. I suppose I expected some of my info to be out there; after all, I was involved in the Equifax data breach -- but who wasn’t? The surprising thing were the accounts that I never think twice about that were out there. 

"Until this experience, little did I know that there are people working to package and sell digital identities online. They are not just looking for your name and credit card on one list from a big breach; they are looking to compile your name and personal information across many stolen lists and multiple data breaches. They are packaging a more robust digital profile to sell on the deep or dark web. These profiles are worth decent bucks because they are real identities, not just one-offs on a leaked list. The more accounts and information per identity, the more lucrative the sale.

Here are some steps you can take proactively to protect your online identity:

Security – whether for personal or business -- is constantly changing. Just because you set up a strong password when you first joined Facebook, doesn’t mean that your work ends there. Review your online presence at least annually and add new security tools as they are developed. This is what’s required of us now in our modern, digital lives.