When your data is taken, it doesn't fall into a void. It moves. It gets packaged. It gets priced. And while you're changing a password, someone else is deciding how many times they can reuse your name.

This episode strips away the mythology around the dark web and explains what it actually is: a part of the internet designed for anonymity that doubles as a wholesale market for stolen data. It covers how credentials are bundled and priced, why medical records cost more than credit cards, and how cybercrime today works like an assembly line with separate groups specializing in breaking in, selling, and committing fraud. The episode explains why breach headlines are a poor indicator of personal risk, why stolen data gets reused months or years later, and closes with a starter kit focused on assuming reuse, changing passwords after breaches, monitoring the right accounts consistently, and reducing how much stored data exists in the first place.

Whether you've seen your email in a breach notification and wondered what happens next or you want to understand the economics behind cybercrime, Plaintext with Rich walks you through it.

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