These details were revealed to the Financial Times by security firm Symantec, and the figure was confirmed by the UK government. Symantec said that the stolen identities include all the bank account details required to steal money from an individual, and each identity is now being sold on the Dark Web for $30 (£20) on average. According to FT, the personal identities were hacked from either a “government gateway” database that consisted of information from departments like the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs, or from UK businesses, many in unreported incidents. For the uninitiated, the Dark Web is a part of the Internet which is accessible only through a specialised browser like Tor. The websites on the dark web are hidden from normal web users and are preferred by dissidents, political activists, freedom fighters, journalists, whistleblowers etc. The dark web is also used by cyber criminals who sell goods and services in the market places like Silk Rode, Agora etc. The goods and services include illegal drugs, chemicals, firearms and counterfeit goods, hacking, gambling and sports betting and in this case, personal information. A government spokesperson told the Financial Times that the UK government has invested £860m into cyber security and has a number of schemes designed to help UK businesses improve their security measures: “We are looking carefully at the level of regulation. Every company body should be fully aware of the risk from cyberattack, and be confident that the company has proper security in place.”
