Here’s why data breaches like the one at Marriott are ‘treasure troves for spammers’

The massive data breach revealed by Marriott International sheds light on what hackers often do with the personal data they steal, said Long Lu, a cybersecurity expert at Northeastern. Hackers, he said, frequently sell people’s names, email addresses, and other personal information to spammers who, in turn, use it steal people’s identities or trick people into installing harmful software or buying fake merchandise.