The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) until it lost an intellectual property dispute with the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), is the popular company that promotes professional wrestling around the globe. Recently it was disclosed that databases filled with personal information of users of its website were stored in an unprotected server making them accessible to anyone who came upon them.
The good news is that the compromised information did not include credit card information or passwords, which would have posed a tremendous threat of identity theft to the people whose information was stored in the unprotected servers. However the bad news is that the type of information that was compromised included names, email addresses, ages and other information that could be used to formulate spear phishing emails that could be used to attack the victims of the data breach.
Spear phishing occurs when you receive an email or a text message intended to lure you into clicking on a malware infected link that can be used for purposes of identity theft, ransomware or other sinister purposes. What distinguishes spear phishing from mere phishing is that with spear phishing, the communications to you have been specifically tailored with personal information to trick you into trusting it.
TIPS
One lesson from this data breach is to remember that you are only as secure as the places that have your personal information with the weakest security. Therefore limit the places to which you provide your personal information as best you can. In addition, there is no law that requires you to provide accurate and truthful information when going to a website asking for your age or other personal information so you can make up information to provide in order to gain access to a particular website.
Another important lesson is to always be skeptical of any email or text message that you receive that asks you to click on a link. You can never be sure it is legitimate so never click on a link until you have confirmed that the communication is legitimate.
Finally, remember to keep all of your electronic devices updated with the latest security software recognizing that even the newest updates will not protect you from new zero day defects that have not been seen previously.