Leaks, data thefts and their sale on the Dark Web
Trend Micro has published a report explaining the impact of data leaks, as well as their sale on the Dark Web market.
Stolen data is a valuable component of the criminal ecosystem, especially the Deep Web. The extremely large number of information leaks that security companies often uncover fills the underground market with an impressive amount of information from various users.
Let's remember the latest attacks carried out on Ashley Madison, OPM and Hacking Team that affected millions of users, their accounts and intellectual property were violated by much more advanced hacks.
The latest report, titled “Follow the Data: Dissecting Data Breaches and Debunking the Myths,” focuses on data breaches and the dynamics caused by such actions.
The experts conducted their analysis using data from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) data breach database, and found hacking or malicious accounts in 25% of data breaches in Q1 2015. Other causes include physical skimming devices and loss or theft of data from devices (e.g., mobile phones, flash drives).
Data leaks are truly complex phenomena to analyze, it is not at all easy to discover the root causes nor to predict the direct or indirect, short-term or long-term effects on the victims.
Some information leaks were intentionally caused by so-called threat actors, while others were the result of careless actions, with user negligence and errors being more common.
Breach statistics confirm that the number of incidents where credit or debit cards are exposed has increased by 169% in the last five years. It is noteworthy that the value of information in the underground market is changing rapidly, and while prices for credit or debit cards, bank accounts, and information (PII) are falling due to oversupply, the value of affected Uber, online gaming, and PayPal accounts is increasing. PII is the data most likely to be stolen, followed by financial data.
Analyzing the data by sector of activity of companies, it is worth noting that the healthcare sector is the one that suffers the most from information leaks, followed by government organizations and the commercial sector.
The report follows the entire lifecycle of information leaks, from the intrusion to the offering of stolen data on the Dark Web.
Analysts investigated the prices of basic goods on black markets hosted on the Tor Network, and found that US mobile carrier accounts can be purchased for as little as $14 each, but the underground market offers much more, including PayPal , Netflix, and Uber accounts.
The offer depends and the price of the products is based on many factors, for example, for PayPal and eBay accounts that have a few months or years of transaction history, the price is approximately $300 each.
Bank accounts range between $200 and $500 each, with the price depending on the available balance and account history.
Expected and particularly worrying is the fact that the value of personal information (full residential address, date of birth, and other PII) amounts to one dollar per registration.
Finally, scanned documents are available for purchase in the price range of $10 to $35 per document.
It is worth reading this report by clicking here:
