Slashdot Mirror
Yahoo's Billion-User Database Reportedly Sold On the Dark Web for Just $300,000 - NYT (thenextweb.com)
An anonymous reader writes: As if 2016 wasn't shitty enough for Yahoo -- which admitted to two separate breaches that saw 500 million users' and then 1 billion users' details stolen by hackers -- the New York Times reports that a billion-user database was sold on the Dark Web last August for $300,000. That's according to Andrew Komarov, chief intelligence office at security firm InfoArmor. He told NYT that three buyers, including two prominent spammers and another who might be involved in espionage tactics purchased the entire database at the aforementioned price from a hacker group believed to based in Eastern Europe. It's lovely to know that it only costs $300,000 to be able to threaten a billion people's online existence -- which means each account is only worth $0.0003 to hackers who can ruin your life online in a matter of minutes. Yahoo also doesn't yet know who made off with all the data from the attack in 2013, which is said to be the largest breach of any company ever.
It's lovely to know that it only costs $300,000 to be able to threaten a billion people's online existence -- which means each account is only worth $0.0003 to hackers who can ruin your life online in a matter of minutes.
I love the smell of hyperbole in the morning.
Would the OP be happier if the database had commanded a much higher price?
YAAAAHOOOOO ! Our sales reps and corporate execs just made their annual bonus by participating (willing or not) in delivering 1/10th of the world's population's data info to black / grey market re-sellers. What a wonderful system we live in where this can happen with no individuals anywhere in the corporate hierarchy being held criminally culpable - or even accountable - for this data theft that is only now __THREE_YEARS_AFTER_THE_FACT__ being released to the public.
MY OPINION - but this type of 'data breach' is becoming all too common, and will continue to happen while the 'protectors' of this data (the corporations, their management, and data-protection staff) are allowed to skate without any real penalties.
Hell, the recording industry has managed to 'criminalize', at the felony level, simple civil theft of data-transfer and is actually forcing the service providers and the government to be their policing agencies, but corporate data-loss / data-theft like this that can have real economic impact on millions of peoples lives is still dealt with under simple fines and penalties.
Oh, well, at least I don't have to worry, since I don't play the game with all the IM / FRIENDS / data-sharing programs running at the top of the centennial's 'have to have' internet connections.
redneck geek
She didn't get to where she is with sexual favors. She got there the same way men become CEO - she's an incompetent sociopath.