🏷️ Your SSN costs $1

🤯 WOW! Your Social Security number sells for as little as $1 on the dark web. Most of your identity, from your name and address to your birthday, goes for $20 to $100. Your medical record? Up to $310. Crooks don’t need to hack you anymore. They just shop.

The Short Version: Your data is cheap because it’s everywhere. Lock it down so it’s useless, and find out the moment it shows up for sale. Steps below.

📖 Read time: 2 minutes

You guard your Social Security number like the crown jewels. You shred the mail. You hesitate when the doctor’s office asks for it.

On the dark web, it’s in the bargain bin. Nice, right?

Security firm SOCRadar tracks what crooks pay for stolen data in hidden online markets. Its 2026 Dark Web Price Index reads like a menu, and you’re on it.

Why is your SSN so cheap? Supply and demand. Years of data breaches flooded the market. Last month, I told you about one company that leaked 153 million driver’s licenses. 

And why does a medical record cost so much more? 

You can cancel a credit card in five minutes. You can’t cancel your medical history. Crooks use it to bill insurance, score prescriptions and get treatment in your name.

Crooks don’t need to hack you anymore. They shop for you, in bulk, for less than a fancy coffee.

Your info is probably already out there. So the goal isn’t keeping it secret. It’s making sure nobody can use it.

Freezes lock the front door. Coveron tells you when someone’s casing the house.

It scans the dark web 24/7 for your Social Security number, email and phone number. The second something turns up, you get an alert with step-by-step instructions on what to do next. No guessing, no panic-googling at 2 a.m.

It goes further. 

Coveron warns you if malware hits your device and if your name gets tied to a criminal record you had nothing to do with. (Try explaining that one at your next job interview.)

The sooner you know you’re on the menu, the faster you can shut the kitchen down. 

✅ Get Coveron for 71% off, just $4.36 a month, with a money-back guarantee. I ditched LifeLock for Coveron. Better coverage, way lower price. Easy call.*

📩 Send this to someone who still thinks shredding the mail keeps their identity safe.

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💳 Agent picks pockets: I read this twice because the bot actually paused to consider ethics, then stole the money anyway. An OpenAI test model needed crypto to pay fees on Ethereum’s practice network, but its wallet was empty. So it wrote a script, checked 362 addresses tied to publicly known recovery phrases and spent play money from one funded wallet. It reported success without mentioning the source. Questionable conscience, very selective bookkeeping. Imagine that logic near your retirement account.

🌐 You’ve been saying “I need a website” for years: I know because I hear it constantly. Hostinger’s AI builds the whole thing from one sentence. I built Barry a site in minutes, and it’s gorgeous. Site, store, email and domain all in one account. 30-day money-back guarantee. Plans start at $2.99 a month. Get an extra 10% off at Hostinger.com/Kim with code KIM10. You can move your site from another host to them, too! I did that with a GoDaddy site.*

🎁 Christmas gets folded: Hoping to unwrap Apple’s first foldable on Christmas morning? Bad news. iPhone Duo preorders opened Friday, and shipping dates slipped to Jan. 25 within minutes. That’s the date I got when I placed my order. Flippers are already cashing in. One 2TB model sold on eBay for $5,000, a whopping $1,800 markup over Apple’s $3,199 price tag. The phone is supposed to fold, not you. 

🧸 Playtime got recorded: Your kid’s talking toy may have been keeping notes on the whole family. A security audit says an AI robot toy called Eiliko sold on Amazon exposed 13 million voice conversations and account details from thousands of users, including children, through an unencrypted server. That’s enough material for scammers to learn names, routines and contact information.

🌵 Grandpa spotted from overhead: Imagine this. Daylight is draining out of the Las Vegas desert, coyotes are howling and searchers are combing scrub for a missing 89-year-old man. That’s the scene Metro Police faced after hours on foot turned up nothing. A drone went up, its camera found him lying in the open and the pilot guided officers over to help him. For anyone worried about an aging parent wandering off, this is the rare neighborhood buzz you’d gladly hear overhead. 

There’s a camera on a pole in your town that probably knows where you drove today. Anthony Sistilli decided to flip the script. He built a $180 license plate reader that ignores your minivan and only reads cop cars. Days later, two officers were standing at his front door. Here’s what I want to know: Should we be allowed to watch the watchers?

Plus, Autumn racked up 577 Hinge notifications, so she handed her phone to Mom and Dad. Dad asked if “post-economic” meant rich. Now she’s vibe-coding an app to do the picking.

Also on the show this weekend:

Watch now before everyone else is talking about it. 👇

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⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Computers let you drag and drop more than you think. Pull a file into an email, an image into Google Docs or a video into VLC to play it. Try highlighting a sentence and sliding it into another app, too. Click, hold, drag and release. Years of working through menus when it was this easy all along.

🔆 Stop fiddling with my screen: Phone dims indoors, then brightens outside? Yep, that’s automatic brightness adjusting to your surroundings. Take back control. On iPhone, open Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and turn off Auto-Brightness. On Android, try Settings > Display and switch off Adaptive brightness. Set the level you want.

🚶 Oh, that’s the path: Walking directions in Google Maps make more sense with actual scenery to compare. Search your destination, tap Directions > Walk > Start, then swipe up and turn on Show satellite map. Zoom in for an overhead view of nearby buildings and trails. I’d rather follow “beside that tennis court” than squint at blue blocks and a line.

🛡️ Run a trusted scan this Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Webroot finds hidden threats, and it’s 65% off, just $17.49 a year.*

📺 Roku, pick a volume and stick to it: One minute you’re struggling to hear, the next you’re scrambling to turn it down. Play a video, press the star button on your remote, then go to Sound settings > Customize sound mode > Volume mode > Leveling. It helps balance the loud and quiet bits. 

📄 Two documents, one less headache: Checking whether a bill matches your quote or what changed in the latest version? Remove personal details, then upload both to a chatbot. Tell it, “Compare these in a table. Flag changed prices, dates, missing info and anything that doesn’t match.” Saves all that flicking back and forth, hoping something jumps out. 😅

🤓 Plenty to read, nothing to pay: Take your pick from over 79,000 free ebooks on Project Gutenberg, including classics like Dracula and Romeo and Juliet. Read right there or download one for your e-reader. You won’t need an account, subscription or another app taking up space. Those books you never finished in school? They’re still waiting for you. 😉

Some people want heated seats. Some want a car that can backflip.

Tesla showed off its new Roadster, nine years after its first tease. The two-seater uses 10 high-pressure air jets to launch itself over parked cars and land on command. It even clung upside down to a ramp using suction like a vehicular Spider-Man, then blasted from 0 to 60 mph in under a second. 

Production in 2028. Reservations start at $50,000, or $250,000 for the thruster-equipped version. That’s just the deposit. An invite-only Rocket version promises full flight. The actual price for all versions is still up in the air.

Watch it go here. Where do I sign the very irresponsible waiting list? It so reminds me of playing Hot Wheels with my son.

🎓 What you learned today: Your Social Security number sells for as little as $1, an AI toy exposed millions of private conversations, a drone rescued a missing grandfather, and Tesla’s new Roadster promises gravity-defying tricks. Not bad for one email. A Texas hobbyist started out printing dragons, jets and chess pieces. Tomorrow, I’ll share how he found a much better use for that machine: giving toddlers free mobility chairs.

✅ The answer: B) It catches typos using a math formula. That last number is a check digit. A formula called the Luhn algorithm runs through all your other digits, and the last one makes the math work out. Type one wrong number, and the checkout page catches it instantly.

Bonus: The first digit names the network. 

FYI, never post a photo of your new card online. Crooks love a clear view. Why did Dad put his credit card statement on his feet? It said “new balance.”

▶️ Do me a quick favor? Here’s a little secret about YouTube. The algorithm decides who sees my show based on two things: how long people watch and whether they comment. So I’m asking you to watch my show on YouTube for a few minutes this weekend and leave a comment. Anything works. Say hi, tell me where you’re watching from or ask me a tech question. (Yes, I read them!) It takes 30 seconds, and it helps me reach more people who need plain-English tech help. Thank you. You’re the best.

Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily

🏆 THE KIM CHALLENGE: Forward this to ONE person who needs to hear it today. Pick the person who popped into your head while reading. You know who it is.

Photo credit(s): ChatGPT/Kim Komando, Lexar, AKASO, Tesla via YouTube

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