2 min Security

Passwords hundreds of Dutch companies for sale on dark web.

The passwords of over 900 Dutch companies are offered for sale on the dark web for amounts between 4 and 15 dollars. RTL News reports that on the basis of its own research. The passwords can be found on a Russian website on the dark web, which sells a total of 64,000 international login details.

RTL News tested the passwords by buying five, which had to give access to random Dutch companies. The companies were informed by the news website before publication. The passwords provide access to one of a company’s computers, which are remotely accessible to others and protected by a weak password. The devices often contain sensitive data, including company and customer data.

With its passwords, RTL News was able to get into a large physiotherapy practice with more than ten thousand patients, among other things. Top athletes are also treated there. The purchased password was used to log into the Test account, which allowed the IT administrator to remotely manage the computers. The password itself was Welcome123.

The account gave the site access to documentation, including treatment plans and doctor’s referrals. In addition, private data such as home addresses and citizen service numbers could be found. In practice, just like the four other companies from which passwords were purchased, the security has changed following the notification of RTL News.

Sales platform

The passwords are for sale on a Russian platform for hackers. This platform has a separate section for the sale of the data, where it can be filtered by country, city, internet provider and operating system, among other things. You can also see which browsers can be found on the vulnerable computer and whether e-mail, internet banking or webshops are used.

A number of vulnerable computers show that cybercriminals have been given access before. For example, they tried to hold files hostage with ransomware. One of the computers blocked this attack by the virus scanner. Whoever’s hiding behind the Russian platform is unknown.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.