In today’s tech world, hacking and ID theft are on the increase. Not only that, they’re getting bolder and bolder. Some even brag about what they’re doing.
A young Russian hacker stole over 232 million email accounts and passwords. The emails come from various places. Over 57 million of them come from Mail.ru accounts. Mail.ru is a major Russian email service. Around 40 million came from Yahoo, 33 million came from Microsoft Hotmail, 24 million came from Gmail. According to Alex Holder, founder of Hold Security, this is the biggest security data breach by one single individual of all-time. But the sickest thing of all is what the hacker wanted and got out of the breach. He calls himself ‘The Collector’. He didn’t want millions of dollars for this data. He didn’t want thousands, or even hundreds. The Collector only wanted 50 Russian Rubles. That’s less than one US Dollar! That’s not per email; that’s for the whole batch! When he didn’t get that, he settled for likes and praises on social media hacker forums! Google and Yahoo declined to comment about the attacks. Mail.ru says they will warn users that may have been affected. Microsoft talks about the rise of security breaches and their ability to spot compromised accounts.
There is so much wrong here. First off, all email providers can, or will do, is talk. ?I don’t know how young The Collector is but if he is old enough to steal 232+ million emails, then he is old enough to know right from wrong. The fact he wanted so little for the compromised data shows you the new lows ID thieves are stooping. To them, your privacy, your security, your civil liberties and civil rights, and your family’s securities are only worth one dollar, or some popularity points. There’s something sick and perverse about that. Why aren’t email companies doing more to stop people like this? Why isn’t mainstream media covering this better? What can we do to prevent this, and why isn’t more being done?