Bloggerlife.blog

11/16/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Afraid of the dark

This is not about watching a horror movie – well, not quite – or being a kid afraid to go to sleep when the lights go out. I’m 76 years old, and I think I know what deserves my fear and what is a waste of adrenaline. For example, my latest edition of The Atlantic magazine is here and the opening story gave me the shivers. It is a carefully crafted piece about what 47 and his minions can do to screw up the midterm elections next year. Let me count the ways was what I thought as I read through the article. With the present administration’s disregard for the law, there are many avenues that can be taken to reduce voter turnout, spread rumors that the election was “rigged”, use military force to take hold of voting machines and to render the election impossible to certify. And there’s that damnable electoral college, a feature of our elections that is gravely out of touch with current reality.

Nope. This morning I’m writing about something equally as concerning. That is something we now call “the dark web”. It includes a feature of the internet that is hidden and is not found with search engines called the “deep web”. It requires special software to access it and is known for its anonymity, used for illicit activities. 

My Wikipedia source says this about users of this nefarious technology: “Identities and locations of darknet users cannot be tracked due to the layered encryption system. The darknet encryption technology routes users data through a large number of intermediate servers, which protects the users’ identity and guarantees anonymity…communication between darknet users is highly encrypted allowing users to talk, blog, and share files confidentially.”

The darknet is a haven for hackers, who can work anonymously to steal personal information through a variety of methods involving technology and psychological manipulation of innocent web users. One of the most common methods is known as “phishing” that tricks individuals into providing sensitive information. Scammers use emails, texts and calls to send legitimate looking organizations so that victims will click a malicious link or call a number.

Malware and spyware can be installed on devices to secretly record and transmit data. This allows hackers to infiltrate the databases of places that store a huge amount of personal information. That stolen information is often sold on the dark web and is used to access people’s private accounts. With this information, hackers commit financial fraud by making unauthorized purchases, opening new credit accounts or loans in the name of an innocent person, or draining bank accounts. Data that has been mined illegally is sold to other criminals as well.

Am I afraid of this dark? Yes. Yes, I am. And I write this because our household has been maliciously hacked with this very technology. Using stolen credit card information we found ourselves being told that we owed thousands of dollars for unauthorized purchases. While we tried very hard to fight against this claim, we ended up having to take out a loan to pay the balances. 

Working on this involved hours of stressful phone calls to creditors who were not sympathetic in any way. As far as they were concerned, there was physical proof of our careless spending. Our credit scores were greatly affected, going from highly respectable numbers down to numbers that make us seem like a bad risk for any financial transactions. 

Bad credit scores are no joke. Losing a good score makes it nearly impossible to be in a position of trustworthiness financially. In our household, our scores have been a matter of pride in the past. They have resulted in advantageous negotiations on interest rates with our home and our cars. That is no longer true for us. And renewing our good credit standing is a time consuming process, requiring sustained effort over time. There is no quick fix for this problem.

This situation has left us feeling helpless and frustrated. Jan, who is a power negotiator, has spent countless hours trying to fix this. Because she is so dedicated to being financially sound and responsible, this takes a heavy toll on her psyche. In her past life as a mortgage banker she helped countless people improve their scores so they could get the best interest rate possible on their loans. And now, she is fighting what seems like a losing battle as an innocent victim of a malicious scheme. 

So, be afraid. Be very afraid of what hackers are capable of. Make every effort to protect your information, much of which is already out “there” in a terrifying darkness.