when and where the info comes from is important. someone could, over time assemble a dynamic probability schedule of your physical location, this is not good if you are physically meek, extremely rich or integral to government or industry, AKA kidknapping or worse
Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
11–20 of 77 posts
Re: Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
#12Some criminal could commit fraud if they can find a mark stupid enough to fall for their tricks.
If said stupid mark is lawered up enough, they will try to fob their failure to do their due diligence off on anyone they can including you with the imaginary crime of "having your identity stolen" as if such a thing was even possible.
Which is more plausible?
a) I am not me anymore because my identity is stolen. b) Criminals stole from someone else. (likely leveraging their expectation of profit using the information available on absolutely everyone either from 'legitimate' brokers or shady darkweb stuff; not that I can't tell the difference)
Re: Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
#13It depends on what you mean by 'etc'. The problem might not be in a single leak, but with enough leaks people can get access to all kinds of PII (personally identifiable information). It's important to me that my physical address not leak, I don't want people or packages showing up that I didn't ask to show up. If your important numbers (in the US that's passport, social security, and driver license) get leaked, it b…
> It's important to me that my physical address not leak, I don't want people or packages showing up that I didn't ask to show up.
What is the likelihood of being a target of this? Are there people out there that you expect might want to mail you an unexpected package or stalk you at your home?
I get that there are people who have stalkers and such, but for the average, random person, what is the likelihood a criminal is going to pick their name and address out of some leaked information and...what? Mail them a bomb? Travel from Estonia or wherever the hacker lives to burgle a house in the US? Why? There's no point to doing that.
Re: Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
#14when and where the info comes from is important. someone could, over time assemble a dynamic probability schedule of your physical location, this is not good if you are physically meek, extremely rich or integral to government or industry, AKA kidknapping or worse
Unless you are in the 0.1% it is very unlikely that the effort required to do that and kidnap you is going to be worthwhile.
Re: Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
#15Identity theft.
How prevalent is it? Any examples when a breach has had a real, significantly damaging impact on an average person?
Extremely prevalent. Identity theft is one of the biggest forms of theft in the US. Things like fake income tax refunds is one of the fastest growing financial crimes in the last few years.
Re: Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
#16House stealing: https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2008/march/ho...
Thrown in jail: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-being-an-id-theft-vict...
Re: Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
#17It depends on what you mean by 'etc'. The problem might not be in a single leak, but with enough leaks people can get access to all kinds of PII (personally identifiable information). It's important to me that my physical address not leak, I don't want people or packages showing up that I didn't ask to show up. If your important numbers (in the US that's passport, social security, and driver license) get leaked, it b…
There are leaks and there are leaks. Something like OSNews having a breach is a case of who cares. If it's important info (SSN, Drivers license, passport #) then any company leaking such info should be hammered with $1m fine per leak for each person. These companies which leak valuable information must suffer intolerably so that they never, ever do it again. That means making examples of those companies early in the cycle by having some go to the wall as that's the consequence of such.
I'd also like to see executives be personally liable for the fines too.
Re: Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
#18House stealing: https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2008/march/ho... Thrown in jail: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-being-an-id-theft-vict...
What's the likelihood of either of these happening? Neither of the links provide any data on incidence of ID theft leading to house stealing or being thrown in jail, which leads me to believe it's probably extremely low. Happy to be shown otherwise though.
Re: Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
#19Identity theft.
How prevalent is it? Any examples when a breach has had a real, significantly damaging impact on an average person?
Re: Ask HN: So what if my personal information gets stolen?
#20It depends on what you mean by 'etc'. The problem might not be in a single leak, but with enough leaks people can get access to all kinds of PII (personally identifiable information). It's important to me that my physical address not leak, I don't want people or packages showing up that I didn't ask to show up. If your important numbers (in the US that's passport, social security, and driver license) get leaked, it b…
> It's important to me that my physical address not leak, I don't want people or packages showing up that I didn't ask to show up. What is the likelihood of being a target of this? Are there people out there that you expect might want to mail you an unexpected package or stalk you at your home? I get that there are people who have stalkers and such, but for the average, random person, what is the likelihood a crimina…
>What is the likelihood of being a target of this? Are there people out there that you expect might want to mail you an unexpected package or stalk you at your home?
As we see in the instances of so-called "revenge porn", you don't have to be famous to be the victim of these tactics. It just takes one person who becomes annoyed enough to use some of these tools and then you're left with an expensive and time consuming mess.
Did you have a nasty break-up? Fire someone? Do you have a business rival who would like to see your reputation ruined? Did you leave a comment on a website that just happened to offend the wrong person [1]? The tools to completely ruin your life are becoming easier and cheaper to wield, and the costs of defending against them are only increasing.
Even if the likelihood isn't high, the consequences are severe enough that you should take the risk seriously. Objectively, the likelihood of you getting robbed isn't that high either, but you lock your doors and don't leave valuables sitting out in your car either.
[1]: https://gizmodo.com/when-a-stranger-decides-to-destroy-your-...
EDIT: note that in the link above, the attacker wasn't even using non-public data. Imagine how much more damage someone with the ability to gain access to bank accounts, etc. could have done.