A dark web cybersecurity firm has identified the UK’s most (and least) ‘at risk’ areas for potential identity theft. RepKnight has compared a snapshot of street addresses posted on the dark web against area population figures.
Home addresses form a key piece of the puzzle for identity theft — and with millions of pieces of other personally identifiable information also already listed on the dark web for sale (such as: credit card information, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers), cyber-criminals do not have to work too hard to build up a profile of their targets before stealing their identity, especially if address information is available, according to the firm.
Topping the list of most ‘at-risk’ areas is Cambridge; then comes Dundee and Plymouth. Lerwick, Llandrindod Wells, Doncaster and Torquay and Oxford — as significant dark web ‘postcode hotspots’ per head of population. Despite having the highest number of overall breaches, London’s relatively high population means the capital finds itself tenth (where the privately held firm founded in 2011 has a base; it also has a Belfast office).
At the other end of the scale, the least at-risk areas in the UK are: Harrogate, Slough, Newport, Warrington and Dudley.
Patrick Martin, cybersecurity analyst at RepKnight said: “The dark web is a hotbed for all sorts of stolen personally identifiable information — and while street addresses form a big part of identity theft, the general public must keep a close eye on suspicious activity that might indicate any wrongdoing with regards to any of their personal data. Looking at the data we’ve curated, if you have a look at just the number of instances of street addresses appearing on the dark web, London and the other big cities tend to feature quite highly. However, you’d expect to see dark web postcode activity featuring highly for cities because of the higher population figures. What’s more meaningful for the general public, though, is to be able to assess the chances of your own postcode appearing on the dark web, which is what RepKnight’s risk index enables you to do.”
The company produced these statistics, as based on a snapshot of dark web data dumps in October 2017, using its dark web monitoring tool BreachAlert. The company’s software typically searches social media feeds, news sites, blogs and the dark web in real-time.
