81,326 personal information files ranging from names and addresses to credit and debit card details of Dorset residents are available for sale on “The Deep Web”, internet security experts C6 Intelligence unveils.
Members of the public are now being urged to strenghten their internet security, including changing passwords and e-mail addresses, as the intelligence company warns there are likely to be more information files out there, and cyber criminals are now starting to hack into our mobile phones and tablets to steal our personal details.
The Deep Web, also called the Dark Web and Hidden Web, is the layer of internet underneath what we can see through our normal internet browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. It is impossible to see through these browsers, and can only be accessed by specific encryptions users have to download.
The figures show that in south and west Dorset, 3,591 of the personal information files are considered “high risk”. This means that the files may have already been sold, meaning one-in-13 people in the area have already had their identity stolen.
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