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How Much Is Your Online Identity Worth?

Posted by timothy on from the probably-worth-more-as-meat dept.

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."

24 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. This tool is intended... by BaCkBuRn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... to make more $$ for Norton. When will the shameless plugs ever end?

    --
    PRINT "Signature line broken."
    GOTO 1
    1. Re:This tool is intended... by sopssa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Seems its going really bad for Symantec, with all their stupid spammy marketing efforts..

      Just earlier we had this http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/09/04/1648254/Symantec-Wants-To-Use-Victims-To-Hunt-Computer-Criminals

      So now its not just bloat software, but they're going to spam us with stupid things? Instead of actually doing whats needed, lightweight and protective antivirus?

    2. Re:This tool is intended... by gnick · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What I really liked about their plug was this (FTA):

      Cybercrime is now larger than the international drug trade...

      I don't have numbers, but my B.S. meter is going off the charts. I humbly request a definition of "bigger". If they mean that more people are affected by cybercrime than are directly involved in the international drug trade, then OK. But if you count even indirect supporters of the drug trade, that falls apart - They claim 10 million people were victims of cybercrime last year - You can't tell me that there are fewer than 10 million people supporting the illegal drug trade right now. No way. Even if they're talking about $$, I still call shenanigans - The drug trade is BIG money. If somebody has numbers contradicting that balance, please share, but that quote reeks of FUD.

      I realize that I'm demanding citations without providing any - It still sounds fishy.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    3. Re:This tool is intended... by QRDeNameland · · Score: 4, Informative

      Your BS meter appears to be functioning correctly.

      Over eleven years ago (1998), the UN reported that "illegal trade in narcotics has a captive market of about 190 million addicts and users worldwide, and is estimated to be worth more than 400 billion dollars a year". (source)

      "No way" by one or two orders of magnitude, I'd say.

      --
      Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
    4. Re:This tool is intended... by yuna49 · · Score: 4, Informative

      This idiocy seems to trace back to a woman who once worked for the Treasury Department and made this claim to a Reuters correspondent at a conference in Riyadh in 2005.

      http://threatchaos.com/2009/03/evolution-of-the-cyber-crime-exceeds-drug-trade-meme/
      http://blogs.zdnet.com/threatchaos/?p=480

      In its PR release, Symantec justifies this claim with a footnote to "Source: US Department of Treasury."

    5. Re:This tool is intended... by Shotgun · · Score: 4, Funny

      What I really liked about their plug was this (FTA):

      Cybercrime is now larger than the international drug trade...

      I don't have numbers, but my B.S. meter is going off the charts. I humbly request a definition of "bigger".

      What they mean is that they weighed people affected by identity theft and those affected by drug crimes. Have you seen the state of crack or meth addicts lately? Those guys don't weigh nuthin', compared to the pizza eating geeks getting ripped off on the net.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    6. Re:This tool is intended... by Runaway1956 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I have two different opinions on this. Yeah, it would be great if Symantec would sell it's top-tier security products to the public at affordable prices. I've only heard good things about it's enterprise software. The far less effective "solutions" that they sell to John Q. Public helps to ensure that malware writers can find a way to bypass security.

      BUT - the real question should be, "When is Microsoft going to REPAIR THEIR BROKEN SECURITY MODEL?"

      Yes, security is getting better with MS products. But, everything comes back to the fact that MS is designed more for convenience than for security.

      Why am I even bothering, though? If people take security seriously, they generally move to a unix-like system. If they don't take security as seriously as they take marketability and convenience, they stay with Windows. And, the world suffers losses to criminals all day, every day.

      Phhht. The fact is, few people really care if their identity is stolen. Their actions prove it.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  2. Not working for me. by CRCulver · · Score: 5, Funny

    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...

    1. Re:Not working for me. by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Funny as your comment was intended, I stopped the questionary when it asked how much my total bank accounts were worth.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
  3. Pfft! No problem... by Penguinisto · · Score: 4, Funny

    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?
    1. Re:Pfft! No problem... by anglico · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm in the same boat you're in, I always joke with my friends that if they did steal my identity they would probably feel sorry for me and actually deposit money in my accounts.

  4. Worthless... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
  5. Slashvertising at its best. by jittles · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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)

  6. Not an advertisement, no way by BertieBaggio · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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
  7. Online Banking is the DEVIL! by Strike+Fiss · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "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.

  8. This is advertising FUD, not a useful tool by petes_PoV · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:This is advertising FUD, not a useful tool by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Funny

      arbitrarily estimated in an obscure manner with no basis in fact or reality. Treat it like astrology not security.

      You meant 'economics', not 'astrology', right?

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  9. Finally an independant price point tool! by burtosis · · Score: 5, Funny

    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!

  10. It's shocking how little... by gurps_npc · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The writer understands anything.

    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
  11. Can I use this to earn money? by petes_PoV · · Score: 5, Interesting
    By making up online personas and then selling them? Norton reckoned my online worth was $32 - just by clicking on my age range and taking all the other default values. That's about $32 for 30 seconds work. I could do that for a living. It's just a pity that Norton haven't taken this to it's logical conclusion and offered to join up people with onlibe identities and the (other) people who would pay for them.

    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
  12. Is it $0.43 or $100? by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 3, Informative
    I filled out the questions and got this at the end

    ...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
    1. Re:Is it $0.43 or $100? by rhsanborn · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It means the criminal would expect to get about $100.00 out of your identity, but they won't pay $100.00 to try and get that value. They have a significant risk, including many identities that just don't work out, and the risk of getting caught. So, they'll only buy the opportunity to use that identity for $0.43.

  13. A Marketing Ploy, me thinks by realsilly · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.
  14. Re:How much? They'll tell you how much. by commodore64_love · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This was just a way to sell their software. When I said I had a "security suite" to protect my accounts they rated me as "low risk" but when I changed the answer to "no security" than they rated me high. I'm surprised they didn't have an instant popup to sell me their program.

    This is just like the insurance companies who make it sound you'll be run-over by a car or hit by a falling ladder, as soon as you step outside your home. Exaggerating a person's risk is a scam to get your money. That's all it is. "Oh yeah you need to buy this, else you will be SCREWED!!! Hahaha." "OMG I'll take it!" "A wise decision madam."

    Ch-ching.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall