Website Hacking

Website hacking can be very damaging, mainly because of its impacts on third parties who rely on the site. A website holds all sorts of confidential information: emails, passwords, credit card details, postcodes, purchase history, search history and much more. Meaning websites with big databases are targets for hackers. Data is considered to now be the most valuable resource on earth (surpassing oil) As some of these sites hold so much valuable data the threat of a major cyberattack is always there.

• In July 2015, the dating site “Ashley Maddison” was hacked by a team called “The Impact Team”. The group managed to gain more than 25GB of company data; Putting many users at risk.

• Due to the nature of the site, and its policy of not deleting user’s personal data, many users were very worried. As their confidential details: emails, passwords, credit card details, postcodes and transaction history were now out of the control of the company’s control.

• As many people use the same password for multiple applications, a breach to one online account could potentially lead to a several more. Check here on how to be secure with your password.

• To make matters worse, even though they offered an account deletion service ($19), they did not delete personal information. Despite users paying for this service, Ashley Maddison still had kept sensitive information on their customers; Which the hackers now had.

• Here is an article for more information.