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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."
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?
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)
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
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!
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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."
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
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.