FaceTime uncovers online credit card stash

The warez discussion groups are frequented by hackers trading pirated media and video games.

FaceTime said that some of the exposed credit card details included Pins and email addresses, indicating that the information had been obtained from a back-end online payment system.

Chris Boyd, senior director of malware research at FaceTime, said: "The odd thing is that the person who posted the details does not really come across as a professional carder.

"It is more like someone who happened to stumble across a stockpile of sensitive information and is now trying to distribute it as quickly as he can.

"This is a case of stupid criminals at work. The poster happily included all of this information with a photograph of himself as well as his location listed under his forum avatar."

Boyd explained that he and other researchers are constantly searching for malware, botnets, spyware and incidents of hacking that can compromise personal and company data.

While this research is used to protect FaceTime's enterprise network security customers, the team occasionally uncovers incidents that affect a wide variety of consumers.

"Everyone takes a security risk when they shop or hang out online, but we can reduce the risk with some common sense and specific moves," said Boyd.

"A company would never stop using email just because they get spam, but everyone needs to balance the benefits of the web with ways to avoid the risks. "

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