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How Much Is Your Online Identity Worth?
itwbennett writes "Answer a few questions about your personal Internet use, and a new tool from Symantec will calculate your net worth on the black market. You'll get three results: how much your online assets are worth, how much your online identity would sell for on the black market, and your risk of becoming a victim of identity theft. The tool is intended to raise consumer awareness about cybercrime, said Marian Merritt, Internet security advocate for Symantec. It's unlikely the average consumer would read an Internet Security Threat Report, she added, but a simply illustrated example might get the same point across. 'It's shocking how little value criminals place on your credit card,' she said."
... to make more $$ for Norton. When will the shameless plugs ever end?
PRINT "Signature line broken."
GOTO 1
How Much Is Your Online Identity Worth?
So we should all post it here for them to hack us? :)
I used this tool, but it didn't turn out so well. The first question was, "To calculate your worth, please provide your SSN and online banking username and password." Unfortunately, when I clicked "Next", it's lagging and I can't get through to the next part...
Thanks to a messy divorce 4 years ago, my credit rating probably still sucks to the point that even an ID thief would be ashamed to use it.
Go ahead, try and get a credit card with it - you'll hear laughter that would compete with an insane asylum on Bath Day...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
It's worth as much as Symantec tells you it's worth!
Ha!
) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
Symantec will calculate your net worth on the black market
I went there and it told me I owed it money...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
This tool is nothing but a giant slashvertisement, though I suppose that should be obvious. It was a complete waste of time. Oh and I'm worth $31 online if anyone wants to buy me ;o)
I just ran the numbers, and considering
- My 4 digit Slashdot ID ... and my 5 digit Counter-Strike source SteamID
- My online bank account who's login and password match my GMail account
- My original ICQ number
- My ownership of the domain, hardknocks.edu (The School of Hard Knocks)
- My World of Warcraft account(s)
-
I come in at just over 9,000 dollars!
.. articles that use links to "everyclickmatters.com" and such.
Maybe using this tool is not such a smart idea?!?
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
'It's shocking how little value criminals place on your credit card,' she said."
No, if it were worth more, there'd be more value in stealing it. You want its value to a criminal to be zero, the chance of being caught to be infinite, or both.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
how much those black market names I was about to buy are really worth. Fantastic!
xxxxxxxxxx
It's your mess. YOU clean it up!
Someone thinks they're relevant?
Even if their tools did a good job at estimating my risk, convincing me to buy, and then covering my digital ass, the fact is that the vast majority of identity theft still occurs from dumpster diving, intercepted/misdelivered mail, and the waitress taking your credit card out of site.
If Symantec sold a good cheap shredder, or sold carry-to-table card readers to restaurants, then I'd give a fuck.
Gotta love leading questions:
Do you currently have a complete security software solution that includes spyware protection, antiphishing technology and a two-way firewall (BUY CO- ER, NORTON®!) installed on the personal computer you use most often?
Yeah, it's just a tool to raise awareness (BUY NORTON®!), indeed. Just a natural question, placed at the top of a page and taking up a lot of eye-space. It helps determine if we should give you the sales routine. No, it helps determine if how much a criminal would value your identity. No, uh... what were we trying to do again?
However, on a brighter note: I guessed a criminal could buy me, er... buy my online digital e-identity (or whatever they call it) for $20. They say I could go for as little as $11.29. Obviously I didn't take bartering into account.
PS: BUY NORTON®!
If all you have is a grenade, pretty soon every problem looks like a foxhole -- MightyYar
"Do you pay bills online? No? Can you VIEW bills online? No? Well...then that just means the hackers will try harder! BUY NORTON NOW!!!"
Brilliant marketing. It's a shame this power can't be harnessed for good.
The Norton Online Risk Calculator, unveiled within a microsite to coincide with the launch of Norton 2010,
All it does is make people anxious about unmeasurable quantities of unknown worth, arbitrarily estimated in an obscure manner with no basis in fact or reality. Treat it like astrology not security.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
I was totally overpaying for all that black market info. I went to my dealer and showed him the link, now I save 30%! Thanks Geik^H^H^H^H Symantec!
At the end of the little marketing "quiz", it asks you if you want to "allow" or "deny" criminals to "steal your identity". Mine wasn't worth all that much, so I said "allow. The videos that follow are quite creative...
I don't respond to AC's.
It's no shock how little credit card info is worth when it costs so little to retrieve. It's not about the ultimate value that can be attained with it. What's more, easy access to lots of cards means it makes much more sense to skim a lot of accounts, rather than gut one golden goose.
A completely black page?
Oh, wait, do I need to whitelist something in noscript for that? Pass.
It was humorous up until the last page, where it said, "Your entire digital life could go up for auction for as little as $21.39" and then had two big buttons, ALLOW and DENY. Are they ASKING if you want to auction your identity on the black market? And who in their right mind would click on either one of them? Very suspicious, but obviously just an advertisement for Symantec's crappy products. Long live ES-ET for actual bloat-free protection.
IT IS GOOD THAT CRIMINALS DO NOT PLACE A HIGH VALUE ON OUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION.
That basically means that the info is not all that dangerous. It means criminals are afraid of getting caught if they use it, so why spend all that much for it. If the criminals were sure they could get away with it and all they needed was the info, that information would go for a lot higher.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Timothy is obligated to run these Slashverts, otherwise IT World stops sending him the free laptops, smart phones, and what not.
Of course, if they did, they'd find that:
* there was almost no-one willing to pay for this
* they would pay nothing like the Norton valuation
and therefore expose the complete and utter BULL behind this mind-numbingly DUMB idea. I'd even be happy for Norton to take a 10% finders fee - I'd still make a pile.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
$695 on a good day. Do I get a cookie?
...you guessed that a cybercriminal could buy you for $1.00. In the underground economy, you're really worth about $100.00. And that's on a good day. Your entire digital life could go on the auction block for as little as $0.43...
So is my information worth $100.00 or is it worth $0.43? It doesn't seem like they have a clue, but then this is Symantec we are talking about, so I guess we already knew that.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Enter your SSN, credit card number, and Mother's maiden name, fill out a short survey about which online sites you use most frequently, and we will calculate your online net worth!
The commercials for Norton 2010 featuring Dokken are hilarious! Too bad I'm at work and IT blocks youtube here, but check 'em out for a good laugh!!
I agree it's important to understand how to keep your information protected, but this sounds like the newest method of selling you the latest and greatest upgrades to Symantec's software. We have seen scare tactics in the News media to get you to watch their stations for the news and weather by over-sensationalizing the headlines or the topics to be covered.
Just the other day, the news eluded to the next hurricane that formed with this dire sounding report about keeping you informed. What the news failed to mention was that the particular storm was just off the coast of Africa and it's path was keeping it in the ocean off the coast of Africa.
It's not that I don't believe Symantec isn't touching upon an important topic, it's just the method by which they are choosing to report the data to the consumer.
Life takes interesting turns, but the most interest is when you're off the beaten path.
Hmm... after doing the report, I'm worth -$42 (that's a negative) and they're demanding my presence be eliminated from the net. It also had 'End of Line' when I finished. What does 'End of Line' mean? :)
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter F. Drucker
If you visit that site, it spends about thirty seconds running a "preloader". Yet the actual quiz comes from another site and is trivial. What's going on in there?
'You Believe your online value is $100 and you guessed
a cybercriminal could buy you for $9001. In the underground
economy your really worth about $180 and thats on a good day.
Your entire digital life could go on auction block for as little as
$1.23, whether you like it or not'
but i so wanted to be worth OVER 9000!
I've found a way to make yourself priceless - use the official build of Flash, but do it from Firefox on openSuse! Everything else Flash-based works fine for me, but I can't get past the first page of this "advert masquerading as a tool" because I don't have any boxes to select my gender or age! I can see the lists, just no checkboxes, and clicking in the rough areas doesn't help either. I take that to mean that theives can't steal my details and therefore my details are priceless :)
I can't even access my accounts most of the time! How are much luck are they going to have? "Sir this is ABC Bank we saw some suspicious activity on your online account today. Apparently you logged with all the correct information, and didn't get locked out. Due to the suspicious activity we're going to lock your account."
You mean I can get some cold hard cash for my online identity? This site only tells me how much I can get for it... where do I actually sell it?
Let's see what the database says here: "NULL".
I pay my ex-wife to mess up my credit report. This prevents any identity theives from opening accounts in my name.
She only charges me a couple grand a month for the services too -- so its quite a bargain.
Just use some RIAA lawyers to calculate the value of your "digital life".
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Besides all the loaded questions and unquantifiable results the fact is much of the stuff being asked for is insured.
So sure they might pay 22$ to get at my stuff, but from my perspective if they steal money from my credit card it is insured against identity theft, so basically they are stealing from the bank, not me as the bank will reimburse me. I have had it happen to me before.
This is really just a stupid thing to sell their software, which really wouldn't help all that much anyway. Not being foolish is part of it.
The WORST case I have ever heard of was a couple went on vacation, and some asshole stole their identities, and actually sold their 400k home out from under them. Brutal eh? However is this their fault, or that of the stupid bank? In this case I would also think that it would be much like if someone stole your car and sold it. The person with the stolen car wouldn't be the loser, it would be the person that bought the car. In this case the bank controls the sale, as they hold the mortgage, so likely there is some responsibility there as well.
It said the world would pay me $1000 to go away. :-(
Telling me how much I'm worth on the black market of identity theft begs the question of whether HOW SECURE AM I FROM IDENTITY THEFT and does nothing more than add FUD to the identity theft discussion.
If you don't want your identity stolen, the right way to do that is to PREVENT YOUR IDENTITY FROM BEING STOLEN, not buy more software that may or may not patch more holes in the software you already have.
Social networking sites aren't the problem. People who freely give out confidential information are the problem.
Your computer isn't the problem. How you use it to make it easy for others to take your confidential information is the problem.
Norton can't fix all the malware problems, and they can only do so AFTER they see the malware (either in concept or in the wild). Too often that's many many days after the problem is already too late. Their suggestions to use firewalls do nothing to prevent spyware installed through any number of known windows/adobe/vendor-of-the-day-hole from stealing your data in real time and delivering it where it will be used immediately to drain your accounts.
Use linux. Use FireFox. Use anonymizers. Don't store passwords anywhere other than your head.
Don't use Windows. Don't use Internet Explorer or Outlook. Don't keep all your passwords in the browser.
Here's an excellent example of a "strong password checker" that is in fact TERRIBLE: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/checker.mspx
Hint: try aaaaaa$A There are two problems with this "strong password checker". The first is it assumes a password CANNOT be strong unless it has elements of letters, numbers, and either special characters or uppercase letters. The second is it assumes that at 8 characters a password containing members of those sets is strong, and that at 14 characters it is "the best". This implies that aaaaaaaaaaaa$A is a stronger password than "You'llneverguessmypassphrasebutI'llrememberit!"
Norton needs FUD so they can sell more of their products.
We as /. readers don't like FUD. Not from SCO, not from MS, ...and not from Norton.
Stop the FUD when you see it.
E
Nice try Symantec. Nice Try.
I am so scared now I was asked a whole bunch of questions about how every single person in the world uses the internet, from online banking to facebook, and now Symantec has told me I'm a MEDIUM risk and criminals are out to get me!!!!!!!!!
I guess I should buy their software right away! SAVE ME SYMANTEC, SAVE ME!!!!
Oh, wait - the cost of their subscription fee over 10 years is less than what they say I am "worth". Or are they the criminals telling me what I'm worth to them? I'm so confused now...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Since the very first page of the questionnaire has radio buttons that overwrite each other in every browser but IE, any thinking user should conclude if Symantec can't even author a website you shouldn't trust them with your PC's internet security.
"We can categorically state we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - UK military spokesman, July 2007
It said I am worth a peso. [grin]
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Dude, nobody's gonna pay you $32 for the 30-second questionnaire. But somebody might pay that much for all the information you said you have (credit cards, bank accounts, contact lists, birthdate, address, medical records, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, debit cards).
My online value of $10,000 is worth $675, for which a criminal might pay $80. The difference between $675 and $80 accounts for the risk that the information is bogus, that the credit cards will be closed before they're used, that the whole process is illegal, and profit.
Now if you want to actually sell all your passwords, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers for $32 then go for it. If you want to sell fake passwords and numbers then good luck. Try that a few thousand times and you might get your fingers/legs/neck broke.
I'm stuck on the last screen of the survey as it says ...
... Allow or Deny?"
"Your entire digital life could go on the auction block for as little as $21.96, whether you like it or not."
Then it gives me 2 buttons I could click
Which one should I choose?!?!?!?
Works fine in firefox.
An alternative view is that Symantec only reckon you are at risk if you use IE and that if you are using something else then you're already safe and hence of no interest to them?
With the shitload of comments I post on slashdot every day, how can I not be?
Why are advertisements getting slashdotted?
and they said I'd only go for $11.29! I mean, I'm not even worth half of what I thought I was. I feel insulted and emasculated. Damn web form just took my balls!
Absolutely nothing.
On a side note, I find it a little amusing that I have to allow scripts from "72.32.208.229", a site I know absolutely nothing about, to (unsuccessfully on my Linux machine) enter personal information for no good reason on "everyclickmatters.com", which in turn claims to be a part of Symantec, although I'd need to do a WHOIS to be sure. Great user education there... Apparently cargo cult security is enough to comfort most people, requires no changes in user habits, and Symantec is happy to sell it.
OTOH, am I seeing things or is that a terminal screen pictured on that laptop? Apparently that's what scary hackers use.
It is just a way to sell their software. One of the question they should ask is "Are you using Linux?"
Any thinking user would have figured that much a long time ago...
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
I entered all the same information twice; one claiming all my online accounts had $0 in them and another claiming I had $99,999,999 (the largest number you can input). Both said I was worth $32. I then went back and said I didn't have an online brokerage account or an online 401k. This caused them to calculate my worth at $12. I then tried saying I had no online accounts; not even an email. That said I was worth $0. I then said I only had an email. That raised my value to $0.10.
So, regardless of how much money you say you have this calculator is entirely dependent on what type of accounts you have online.
Since the very first page of the questionnaire has radio buttons that overwrite each other in every browser but IE, any thinking user should conclude if Symantec can't even author a website you shouldn't trust them with your PC's internet security.
If you aren't using IE you probably are too savvy to buy the product they are selling too. They're not losing anyone who would have bought it.
So now slashdot is supporting another viral marketing campaign, and from an anti-virus software company. That's really funny. Thx for the laugh-of-the-day.
I think therefore I can't be ~TTNH
Some of the skits aren't that bad. The fact that the "determine your risk" button is dead with my default Opera 10 on Debian I think of as Symantec's way of being more truthful than they intended.
felt like that kid with decoder ring in the movie "A Christmas carol".... eagerly decoding the secret message, only to realize it was just a damn commercial.
I clicked on the test, and just kept clicking the next arrow until it told me my risk. Finally, a screen shows Accept or Deny. I don't know what the question was... but I hadn't entered anything worthwile, so I clicked Accept. It then drops a frame inside the current frame with all the top buttons nested inside the window where the questions were, so the top 4 or 5 large buttons had duplicates directly below them.
I hate to break it to you but that $11.29 is in Zimbabwe dollars ;-(
sweet... i'm worth 650$ online. i can't get that much for my car and clothes. together. how can i sell me for 650$ is what i want to know.
p.s. re: your sig, I hate the index too.
I ran a drive reader that saves to a text file, then any of the wordprocessors can slam through that and find the items. Index can't stand my style of batch&archive because all those broken links makes it grumpy.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Can people be their own copyrights?
"You, JW Smythe, born ____ at ____ time at _____ location" are a unique work. Copyright applies the moment a New Work comes into existence. The penalty for *infringing* on your identity is $1.2 Million!!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Yes, Symantec, I'm really going to activate Javascript and run Flash just to look at, judging from what others have posted here, is idiotic advertising....
Anyone who has ever tried to uninstall their products already knows enough to run away from this idiocy...
$1,750 on a good day but as low as $32.94.
Some safety tips
1) If you don't know it, don't use it
2) If you must purchase use a credit card (not debit card, not direct checking accuont)
3) Different passwords for different sites (even groups are fine...e.g. your bank password is OK for your brokerage password, but not for your porn site password)
4) Anti spyware softwre, anti-virus software - all set to high security levels
You all know this but basically that is the crux of security
--------
Scuba Engagement
I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
Unfortunately the copyright goes to the creator of the work, not to the work itself. You probably owe damages to your parents for unauthorized use of your identity.
If fate makes you a motorcycle, you become a motorcycle.
Actually, JWSmythe is a fictional creation to which I use the persona online. Since the persona does not have a SSN, birth certificate, drivers license, etc, it may be a bit harder to get away with identity theft. :)
Now, my real name, John W. Smith, could be (c) my parents. Oh wait, that's another fictional creation. :) I've used enough fake names online, that I tend to forget what my real name is. It brings a whole new meaning to the concept of a John Doe subpoena.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.