MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2020) Private data from half of small and medium German companies can be found on the dark net, research published Thursday by the German Insurance Association (CDV) has revealed.
The association, which represents some 460 private insurers, said a search in June for insider data from 1,019 firms in the shady part of the internet turned up 6,500 email addresses and matching passwords linked to 543 businesses.
CDV cybersecurity expert Peter Grass said employees registered work email addresses on online retail websites, social media, gambling platforms as well as dating and porn sites, and when those were hacked their private details ended up in the darknet markets.
"Criminals could even use such information to blackmail an employee," Grass said.
A separate poll, commissioned to Forsa by CDV, found in spring that fewer than a third of 300 small and medium enterprises in Germany forbade their employees to use work emails for private purposes.
