How Much Is Your Gmail Account Worth To Crooks?

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday June 26, 2013 @09:03AM from the single-point-of-failure dept.

tsu doh nimh writes "If you use Gmail and have ever wondered how much your account might be worth to cyber thieves, have a look at Cloudsweeper, a new OAuth service launching this week that tries to price the value of your Gmail address based on the number of retail accounts you have tied to it and the current resale value of those accounts in the underground. From KrebsOnSecurity: 'The brainchild of researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Cloudsweeperâ(TM)s account theft audit tool scans your inbox and presents a breakdown of how many accounts connected to that address an attacker could seize if he gained access to your Gmail. Cloudsweeper then tries to put an aggregate price tag on your inbox, a figure thatâ(TM)s computed by totaling the resale value of other account credentials that crooks can steal if they hijack your email.'" A recent report from Kaspersky (PDF) also highlighted the trend toward phishing attepts targeting Facebook, Google, and Yahoo accounts alongside bank accounts.

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Wait just a second by Russ1642 · 2013-06-26 09:06 · Score: 5, Insightful

"You're at risk!!! Download this scanning tool now to determine your chances of getting pwned." Where have I seen this kind of language before?
1. Re:Wait just a second by maliqua · 2013-06-26 09:35 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  the university of Illinois computer science department...?
2. Re:Wait just a second by Anonymous Coward · 2013-06-26 10:17 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  the university of Illinois computer science department...?
  Well known scammers:
  Dear Friend I am Professor Joseph Otumba of the university of Illinois computer science department and I wish to speak to you on the most urgent matter of your gmail account....