A new research for a BBC Watchdog episode has uncovered the amount it costs to buy various types of stolen login information online.
They found that stolen bank details commanded the highest price. Just like a regular eBay listing, stolen credentials are for sale on various marketplaces hiding on the dark web.
Digital privacy and cyber security expert Simon Migliano carried out the research. He said the prices have increased on average by almost three times compared to the start of the year, meaning that someone’s entire identity could potentially now be worth £2,400, up from around £800 in February.
Tobin Broadfoot, Product Owner for Identity and Onboarding at GBG:
“Huge amounts of data are now available to cybercriminals and we have reached a point where we must assume that, at some point, our identities will be compromised.
To cybercriminals, our personal data is worth more as it gives them a fuller picture of who we really are as individuals. Financial data is just one part of it. The broader a picture the cybercriminals can build up, the more valuable an individual becomes to them – and any future buyers they may have lined up – as this can be sold as a complete package.
Companies must step up and make sure that they’re doing everything they can to safeguard the data they store. It’s therefore critical for businesses to have a safety net in place so that when they are a victim of a cyberattack, the use of any customer data compromised is prohibited so that its value to those with malicious intent is worthless.
In the battle against fraud, data is good! The more transparent we can be with data, the more it can be used to gather insights and intelligence that will stop the bad guys in their tracks. In order to trade more, businesses need to trust more, and this trust can only be built with a global view of fraud instances and innovative solutions supporting the verification of genuine customers in a seamless fashion.”
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