What is the Street Value of Your Sensitive Data?

Data breaches in the headlines have become all too familiar. What happens to that data after it has been stolen is rarely disclosed after a breach occurs, which is the really disturbing news. This information inevitably makes its way to the Dark Web. The term Dark Web is scary enough on its own. However, knowing your information could be for sale there is even more frightening. The Dark Web is a gathering of thousands of web sites, with web site hosts operating and even marketing, with anonymity to sellers of all types. From stolen financial facts to hit men (yes, hit men) and everything in between, the Dark Web caters to nefarious users looking to make a score.

Prices for personal information, as they vary with content, are shockingly affordable. Credit card numbers come at different prices. The higher the credit limit on the card, the higher the price. There’s also a package of credentials known as Fullz. This is the cream of the crop for stolen information. A Fullz offers the complete rundown of the victim. It includes date of birth, social security, address, driver’s license information, mother’s maiden name, etc. It’s the full package, allowing cyber thieves to assume the total identity of a targeted individual.

A look into Dark Web prices is shocking, with the following list showing just a snippet of what’s out there and what it costs:

•$1-$4 - Lines of Data, Per Line Price
•$7 - Visa/MasterCard
•$25 - Fullz
•$10-$35 - Passport Details
•$50 - Facebook Credentials
•$250-$400 - EBay or PayPal Credentials
•$200-$500 - Bank Account Details

Looking into prices on the Dark Web, categories for pilfered information becoming clear. They include industries like health care, bank accounts, credit card numbers, gaming, PayPal, eBay, Facebook, Uber, driver’s license, social security numbers and passport information…the list goes on and on. The amount of stolen information for sale is affected by many factors, including supply and demand. While per line prices used to be $4, they have been hovering around $1 due to the increased number of breaches and therefore, increase in supply.

Sitting in the bullseye for data breaches these days are payment service providers. The increases in card-related incidents over the past five years has increased 169%. Other rings on the target include healthcare and government, although retail and education are becoming affected more and more.

How do cybercriminals get away with the Dark Web? Thousands of web sites on the Dark Web use the Trojan known as Tor, as well as another anonymity tool called I2P. Both of these tools use encryption, preventing website hosts from being identified by law enforcement, thereby avoiding prosecution. Shoppers on the Dark Web also use Tor and I2P to hide their identities as well. Bearing this in mind, the Dark Web uses these platforms to prosper and grow.

However, there are ways for law enforcement to expose these cyber thieves, although it’s not easy or quick. Most of the time, they never get caught. Dark Web users know they’re usually a few steps ahead of the law, knowing they will likely never be prosecuted. Unfortunately, they may be correct in that belief, as they are usually out there hiding in plain sight.

© Copyright 2016 Stickley on Security