wildercb/PrivacyTextBooks1.2 · Datasets at Hugging Face

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The computer virus Stuxnet showed just how vulnerable technical
systems were to attack. The virus caused real world physical effects when it
disrupted the centrifuges in an Iranian uranium enrichment plant.18
Many pundits proclaimed 2011 as the “Year of the Data Breach.”19 The
loose collectives Anonymous and LulzSec introduced the world to
“hacktivism,” while more profit-minded hackers set their sights on
healthcare. Health data breaches increased by 97 percent in 2011.20
Even data security firms weren’t immune from breaches. RSA Security,
which provided security to 40 million businesses, was hacked. A hacker
sent phishing emails with the subject “2011 Recruitment Plan” to a few
employees. The spam filter caught the email, but one employee retrieved it
from the spam folder and clicked on the attached Excel document, infecting
the system with malware.21 The malware enabled the hacker to access the
system and obtain credentials to break into other systems.
One fateful click also resulted in one of the largest breaches of the year.
At Epsilon, an email marketing company, an employee clicked on a
phishing email, enabling hackers to access 60 million records.22 The cost of
the breach was estimated to be in the billions.23
Fueling the rise of data breaches, illicit markets for stolen data began to
emerge. Criminals could sell their spoils of personal data, and other
criminals could buy key pieces of data to help them plunder. The personal
data peddled in this crooked bazaar could be used for answering password
recovery questions to steal passwords or for filling out fraudulent credit
card applications. Fraudsters could also purchase user passwords from
previously hacked sites; these passwords are valuable because people often
use the same password on multiple accounts. Markets in stolen data thus
became a source of revenue for criminals, as well as a place for criminals to
acquire data to help them hack other companies.
The most prominent of these underground markets was the Silk Road.
Created in 2011 by Ross Ulbricht, a recent college graduate who longed to
be an entrepreneur, Silk Road was an online marketplace that existed in the
nether regions of cyberspace colloquially known as the “Dark Web.” The
Dark Web originated in the early 2000s. Because users could remain
anonymous and be difficult to trace, the Dark Web became a virtual bazaar
for hacked personal data.24 Silk Road quickly grew to become a major
marketplace in the Dark Web.
Donning the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts (from the book and
movie, The Princess Bride), Ulbricht hoped to develop Silk Road into a
libertarian utopia beyond the restrictive authority of governments.25 Silk
Road was made possible by the rise of cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin,
which enabled financial transactions that could be nearly impossible to
trace.
Silk Road quickly became a cesspool for drug trafficking, murder-for-
hire, and other illegal activities. People could even hire hackers to hack for
them.26 The “Hacking Pack” was also for sale, which contained more than
100 hacking tools and software programs.27
At one point, a Silk Road user was able to figure out the identities of
other Silk Road users and started to blackmail Ulbricht by threatening to
release the names publicly. Ulbricht reached out to another Silk Road user
to kill the blackmailer.28
Ultimately, Ulbricht was caught, convicted, and sentenced to a double
life sentence without the possibility of parole. Silk Road was shut down.
But the Dark Web is a much vaster place, and new illicit marketplaces have
emerged where hackers can readily sell the personal data they plunder.

Figure 2.1
In 2012, breaches continued at a torrid pace. VentureBeat proclaimed
2012 to be a “big, bad year for online security breaches.”29 Hackers broke
into LinkedIn, accessed its user passwords, and posted 6.5 million of them
on a hacker forum. The passwords were not sufficiently encrypted, and
many were cracked quickly.30 Not much happened afterwards, so the
damage appeared to be small, but four years later, 117 million LinkedIn
passwords suddenly appeared online.31
Later in 2012, Dropbox was hacked, resulting in a breach of more than
68 million user login credentials. The breach was actually a downstream
effect of the LinkedIn breach. A Dropbox employee was using the same
password from LinkedIn for his workplace Dropbox account. Armed with
the password from the LinkedIn breach, hackers broke into Dropbox’s
network through this employee account.32
Ransomware began to flourish in 2012. Ransomware is malware that
encrypts data on a computer system or device. The victim must pay a
ransom to get the key to decrypt (unencrypt) the data. Originating in 1989,
ransomware suddenly escalated from an obscure occurrence to one of the
leading threats online.33

Figure 2.2
PC World awarded 2013 with the title of the “Year of the Personal Data
Breach.”34 Symantec upped the ante and gave this year the title of “Year of
the Mega Data Breach.”35 According to Symantec, “Attacks against
businesses of all sizes grew, with an overall increase of 91 percent from
2012.”36 Malware and malicious apps for mobile devices grew substantially
in 2013. Ransomware grew like a weed, with a 500 percent increase from
2012.37
Target was one of the biggest and most notable breaches of the year,
involving 110 million records. Hackers stole login information of 38
million people from Adobe, including passwords and credit card data. Later,
an enormous file was posted anonymously online that included login
credentials of more than 150 million accounts.38 Hackers broke into a
backup server with inadequate protection because the same encryption key
was used for all passwords. Adobe was planning to fix the issue, but it
never got around to it.39
In 2014, many media entities proclaimed the year to be the “Year of the
Data Breach.”40 Hackers released hundreds of private, often nude, photos of
women celebrities online, demonstrating that breaches can be acutely
harmful and reflective of the gendered Internet attacks on women.41 Two
more states passed breach notification laws, but the breaches kept coming.42
One of the most notable breaches announced in 2014 was the Home
Depot breach. Criminals remotely stole payment card data from self-
checkout kiosks for about half a year until Home Depot discovered the
activity. As with many other breaches, the initial hole in Home Depot’s

The computer virus Stuxnet showed just how vulnerable technical

systems were to attack. The virus caused real world physical effects when it

disrupted the centrifuges in an Iranian uranium enrichment plant.18

Many pundits proclaimed 2011 as the “Year of the Data Breach.”19 The

loose collectives Anonymous and LulzSec introduced the world to

“hacktivism,” while more profit-minded hackers set their sights on

healthcare. Health data breaches increased by 97 percent in 2011.20

Even data security firms weren’t immune from breaches. RSA Security,

which provided security to 40 million businesses, was hacked. A hacker

sent phishing emails with the subject “2011 Recruitment Plan” to a few

employees. The spam filter caught the email, but one employee retrieved it

from the spam folder and clicked on the attached Excel document, infecting

the system with malware.21 The malware enabled the hacker to access the

system and obtain credentials to break into other systems.

One fateful click also resulted in one of the largest breaches of the year.

At Epsilon, an email marketing company, an employee clicked on a

phishing email, enabling hackers to access 60 million records.22 The cost of

the breach was estimated to be in the billions.23

Fueling the rise of data breaches, illicit markets for stolen data began to

emerge. Criminals could sell their spoils of personal data, and other

criminals could buy key pieces of data to help them plunder. The personal

data peddled in this crooked bazaar could be used for answering password

recovery questions to steal passwords or for filling out fraudulent credit

card applications. Fraudsters could also purchase user passwords from

previously hacked sites; these passwords are valuable because people often

use the same password on multiple accounts. Markets in stolen data thus

became a source of revenue for criminals, as well as a place for criminals to

acquire data to help them hack other companies.

The most prominent of these underground markets was the Silk Road.

Created in 2011 by Ross Ulbricht, a recent college graduate who longed to

be an entrepreneur, Silk Road was an online marketplace that existed in the

nether regions of cyberspace colloquially known as the “Dark Web.” The

Dark Web originated in the early 2000s. Because users could remain

anonymous and be difficult to trace, the Dark Web became a virtual bazaar

for hacked personal data.24 Silk Road quickly grew to become a major

marketplace in the Dark Web.

Donning the pseudonym Dread Pirate Roberts (from the book and

movie, The Princess Bride), Ulbricht hoped to develop Silk Road into a

libertarian utopia beyond the restrictive authority of governments.25 Silk

Road was made possible by the rise of cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin,

which enabled financial transactions that could be nearly impossible to

trace.

Silk Road quickly became a cesspool for drug trafficking, murder-for-

hire, and other illegal activities. People could even hire hackers to hack for

them.26 The “Hacking Pack” was also for sale, which contained more than

100 hacking tools and software programs.27

At one point, a Silk Road user was able to figure out the identities of

other Silk Road users and started to blackmail Ulbricht by threatening to

release the names publicly. Ulbricht reached out to another Silk Road user

to kill the blackmailer.28

Ultimately, Ulbricht was caught, convicted, and sentenced to a double

life sentence without the possibility of parole. Silk Road was shut down.

But the Dark Web is a much vaster place, and new illicit marketplaces have

emerged where hackers can readily sell the personal data they plunder.

Figure 2.1

In 2012, breaches continued at a torrid pace. VentureBeat proclaimed

2012 to be a “big, bad year for online security breaches.”29 Hackers broke

into LinkedIn, accessed its user passwords, and posted 6.5 million of them

on a hacker forum. The passwords were not sufficiently encrypted, and

many were cracked quickly.30 Not much happened afterwards, so the

damage appeared to be small, but four years later, 117 million LinkedIn

passwords suddenly appeared online.31

Later in 2012, Dropbox was hacked, resulting in a breach of more than

68 million user login credentials. The breach was actually a downstream

effect of the LinkedIn breach. A Dropbox employee was using the same

password from LinkedIn for his workplace Dropbox account. Armed with

the password from the LinkedIn breach, hackers broke into Dropbox’s

network through this employee account.32

Ransomware began to flourish in 2012. Ransomware is malware that

encrypts data on a computer system or device. The victim must pay a

ransom to get the key to decrypt (unencrypt) the data. Originating in 1989,

ransomware suddenly escalated from an obscure occurrence to one of the

leading threats online.33

Figure 2.2

PC World awarded 2013 with the title of the “Year of the Personal Data

Breach.”34 Symantec upped the ante and gave this year the title of “Year of

the Mega Data Breach.”35 According to Symantec, “Attacks against

businesses of all sizes grew, with an overall increase of 91 percent from

2012.”36 Malware and malicious apps for mobile devices grew substantially

in 2013. Ransomware grew like a weed, with a 500 percent increase from

2012.37

Target was one of the biggest and most notable breaches of the year,

involving 110 million records. Hackers stole login information of 38

million people from Adobe, including passwords and credit card data. Later,

an enormous file was posted anonymously online that included login

credentials of more than 150 million accounts.38 Hackers broke into a

backup server with inadequate protection because the same encryption key

was used for all passwords. Adobe was planning to fix the issue, but it

never got around to it.39

In 2014, many media entities proclaimed the year to be the “Year of the

Data Breach.”40 Hackers released hundreds of private, often nude, photos of

women celebrities online, demonstrating that breaches can be acutely

harmful and reflective of the gendered Internet attacks on women.41 Two

more states passed breach notification laws, but the breaches kept coming.42

One of the most notable breaches announced in 2014 was the Home

Depot breach. Criminals remotely stole payment card data from self-

checkout kiosks for about half a year until Home Depot discovered the

activity. As with many other breaches, the initial hole in Home Depot’s