Prices for stolen information plummet

The black-market price for stolen credit and debit card details has dropped to as little as US$1.50, according to a newspaper investigation.

In an investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald, it was found that that almost anyone on the internet can buy stolen payment card details for as little as US$1.50 (for Australian details), and US$2.50 American and English cardholder information.

For credit card accounts in Britain and the United States, the cybercriminal salesmen claim to be able to bypass some of the latest anti-fraud protection, including Verified by Visa. And free samples of the stolen data are available, although key information is kept hidden to preserve its resale value.

The hackers also offer a surprising level of detail about their victims, such as a customer's bank account number, mother's maiden name, Social Security number, date of birth, driver's license number, as well as answers to security questions.

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer with Finjan, said: “Our research team spotted this not inconsiderable trade in stolen payment card data back in the late spring...At that time, however, the going rate was around US$15 a pop, so the rate has clearly fallen, perhaps because of the glut of this kind of data being sold on the internet.”


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