Authorities have arrested the Dutch hacker who stole confidential information and tried selling it. The private information belonged to nearly nine million Austrian citizens. In comparison, has a population of around 9.1 million people.
The Arrest
The hacker, who was 25 years old at the time of the arrest, was caught in November in Amsterdam. The defendant also reportedly had similar data sets from countries like the Netherlands, Italy, and Colombia.
The threat actor is already known by the international police, according to Engadget. Although the hacker was arrested way back in May 2020, it is only being made public now to avoid interference with the ongoing investigation.
According to the police, the hacker already published the stolen information online, which consists of names, addresses, and dates of birth. They added that since it has been posted on the Internet, people must assume that the data are in the hands of criminals.
It's also possible that the hacker obtained other types of data like patient information from medical records, according to The Sun Daily. Countries like Thailand, China, and Britain may also be part of the list of countries where the hacker stole data.
So far, the records show that the hacker did not manage to steal any financial information from the nearly nine million victims. Still, there are many ways that people can still be at risk with the kinds of information that were posted.
The Risk of Having Your Information on the Internet
It's not a secret that having personal information readily available on the Internet is a dangerous thing, and as the report said, the hacker posted the personal information online. The best thing to do for those who were impacted by the hacker's actions is to look out for phishing attacks.
For one, having your address online can subject you the real-life dangers. Phishing attacks happen in different ways, and some already resort to physical mail instead of emails and phone calls. You might mail from people with malicious intentions.
They can do so by impersonating government officials or institutions and sending offers that will require you to send them money. They could say that you've won something and will ask for bank information to transfer the winnings, as mentioned in McAfee.
Thieves can also use the change-of-address system in the Postal Service in the US, so your mail will be redirected to an address they chose. Certain mail will contain more sensitive information that they can use to defraud you.
If you're nervous about the possibility that your name, address, and date of birth are being used, you can always go through measures to make sure that no one else is accessing your accounts or using your name to do so.
You can monitor your credit and see if there are unusual activities on them. In the event that you do see one, you can alert the proper authorities or your bank about the incident so they can take measures to protect you from fraudulent activities.
