Coffee, tea or new ID?

[khaosworks]

March 19, 2007
What's a New Identity Cost? Less Than a CD.
By Andy Patrizio

Data and identity theft are far and away the growth sectors among the criminal underground, according to Symantec's 11th Internet Security Threat Report. The U.S. rates as the most popular target for theft.

Every day, Symantec scans the Internet, taking in several terabytes of data, to find "wild" viruses. But it also monitors the underground economy where identity "packages" are sold. According to the report, which covered malware (activity for the last six months of 2006, hundreds of clandestine servers are selling identities, either in single units or in bulk.

"It was surprising how brazen they are," Alfred Huger, vice president of engineering at the Symantec Security Response team, told internetnews.com. "We got the impression there were bulk buyers, while others bought singly. And we saw the same people on multiple servers, so the community is big enough that they know to shop around for a deal."

Symantec monitored 330 servers, the bulk of which were in the U.S. The report stated that 51 percent of all known underground economy servers were located within the U.S., with Sweden coming in second at 15 percent.

The identity bundles consisted of a name, address, Social Security number, and at least one bank or credit card account. Prices ranged from $14 to $18 per identity.

Other goodies for sale included Skype accounts, accounts to the online game World of Warcraft, online banking accounts with a guaranteed $9,900 balance, and PayPal accounts with balances. In all, Huger said Symantec watched more than 5,000 transactions.

The report clearly shows the U.S. has a bull's eye painted on it. A whopping 86 percent of stolen credits were from U.S. banks, with U.K. credit cards coming in second at seven percent.

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Comments

[rdmaughan.livejournal.com]

Organised Crime has discovered the Internet. Much of the scamming and phoshing out there is either directly run by traditional crime groups or run in partnership with them.

The average hacker may know how to steal your credit card details but traditional crime families know how to fence the goods bought with them.