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Your Identity Is Worth Less Than $15

Posted by kdawson on from the less-than-your-fillings dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "One of the more interesting tidbits in Symantec's Global Internet Threat Report (PDF, 105 pages) is the price sheet, which suggests that someone's 'full identity' is worth in the range of $1-$15. Your email password goes for $4-$30 and your bank account might fetch $10-$1000. With those prices, I wonder how often they pay more for the bank account than is actually in it? There's also an executive summary (PDF, 36 pages)."

7 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Who would trust Symantec by allcar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whilst I am sure identity theft is a very real problem, I'm not sure I want Symantec to be my source of information about it. They have done more to reduce internet security than most, with bloated, unusable virus checkers that people end up simply disabling. Furthermore, there is a pretty obvious marketing angle to all of this.

  2. Empty, neglected bank accounts are worth a lot by antifoidulus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    to money launderers. If someone has an empty, neglected bank account they will probably be much less likely to report suspicious activity on it. A fraudster could use the account to have various payments for spam, cracking etc. put into the bank account, then he could make an ATM card linked to that account and draw the money without ever having to use his own name or even go through the trouble of creating a fake identity.

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    Monstar L
  3. Re:You're kidding, right? by WiglyWorm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do you know how many people in America live paycheck to paycheck?

    Quite a few people have bank balances that hover between the grand total of their most recent paycheck and $0. Or don't they count?

  4. My identitiy is priceless by unlametheweak · · Score: 2, Insightful
    From the title:

    Your Identity Is Worth Less Than $15 Wrong! My identity is priceless. And try telling some-one that (their identity is worth $15.00) who can't get a security clearance, a car loan, a job, etc. because their "identity" has been abused by some asshat junkie.

    My bank account, however, is another matter; nothing gained nothing lost :P
  5. Some people's identities are worth more... by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If your bank account can clear a 6-figure check, then the ability to access that money must be worth more than 1k, right?

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    stuff |
  6. Simple business model by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    [Symantec has] " done more to reduce internet security than most, with bloated, unusable virus checkers..."

    Whenever I encounter a computer with Symantec software installed, I uninstall it before doing anything else. My experience with Symantec is that the company's software is VERY buggy.

    "Furthermore, there is a pretty obvious marketing angle to all of this."

    Having insecurity is profitable for Microsoft, anti-malware software companies, and weapons investors like Cheney and Bush. It's a simple business model:

    1) Do evil.

    2) Profit!

  7. Re:You're kidding, right? by RadioElectric · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's because you're looking at the slips from people who don't give enough of a shit to keep them.