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Glut In Stolen Identities Forces Price Cut

Posted by samzenpus on from the cheaper-by-the-dozen dept.

CowboyRobot writes "The price of a stolen identity has dropped as much as 37 percent in the cybercrime underground: to $25 for a U.S. identity, and $40 for an overseas identity. For $300 or less, you can acquire credentials for a bank account with a balance of $70,000 to $150,000, and $400 is all it takes to get a rival or targeted business knocked offline with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)-for-hire attack. Meanwhile, ID theft and bank account credentials are getting cheaper because there is just so much inventory (a.k.a. stolen personal information) out there. Bots are cheap, too: 1,000 bots go for $20, and 15,000, for $250."

3 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Get rid of spam? by SB9876 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, if I'm to follow the reasoning of this article, if we all use weak passwords , the market gets flooded and they all go out of buisness?
    SWEET
    password:password, here I come!

  2. I want to cut out the middle man by the_Bionic_lemming · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd like to cut out the middle man and sell my Identity.

    40 bucks buys a few cases of beer - just sayin...

    --
    _ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
  3. Take Mine For Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Here, take my identity, please!

    You get to assume a recent bankruptcy, a child support obligation, a spotty employment record, a sub-500 credit score, three maxed-out credit cards, a beater car, and a psychotic ex-wife.

    Clean arrest record and a good tech education, though. Maybe you could apply to a NSA contractor.