Email Addresses of Officials in India Compromised
According to reports made by Sai Krishna Kothapalli, the founder of Hackrew, a list with 3,000 email addresses has found its way to the dark web databases. Hackrew found the breach, but there has not yet been confirmation of the list’s existence.
The email list in question is comprised of 3,000 current and former government officials of the Union Territories. These have the domain “gov.in” and include individuals associated with the Indian Space Research Organization, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, and the Security and Exchanges Board of India.
The breach, although not specifically confirmed, shows an utter lack of basic web security measures by the government who are supposed to be protecting the sensitive data. With these email addresses, it is untold what a hacker could do within the structure of the government.
So, what happens when an email address falls into the wrong hands? By acquiring your email address a hacker can pull off some unspeakable acts. They can begin to scam your email contact list. This includes the use of mass email scams. All these email scams generally begin with the hacker asking for money from a friend via a link in the email. This is why you should be wary about sending money when it is requested via email.
Hackers can begin to infiltrate all the devices and services that you have associated with the email address that they have acquired and gotten into. Not only will this give them access to your virtual wallet and credit info, but access to other types of accounts as well, like your social media.
The breach into the “gov.in” email domain addresses could potentially prove to be a disaster, however, it seems as though it may have been caught early enough for damage prevention. In the future, practices of web security should be strengthened to prevent another leak of this kind on the dark web. Even if you do not think you have an email address that a hacker would want, it is better to be safe than sorry and secure yourself ahead of time.
