Your stolen bank login credentials have a real price on the Black Market. What’s really interesting is that the value of Australian bank login credentials has sky-rocketed and is now an order of magnitude higher than US bank account. What does this tell us?
According to internet security researchers and investigators, illegal trading of digital credentials has become very popular in the black market. The market for this information has even evolved to a point where the seller of the illicit information guarantees buyer’s full satisfaction. Both parties agree to hold the buying money in an escrow account and after both parties are fully satisfied with the deal, the money is released.
The ‘2016 Underground Hacker Marketplace Report’ shows the black market price for bank login credentials is far higher for Australian bank accounts compared with equivalent value US accounts.
Australia has been embracing online banking and Internet commerce far more rapidly than most other countries. If a cyber criminal pays $2,250 for a bank account with $18,000 balance then you can bet he’s very confident to get a return on his investment.
As you would expect price goes up in line with the bank balance. An account with $65,567 will sell for $4,750.
By comparison in the USA the credentials of an equivalent bank account are far lower. A balance of US $15,000 will command a price of between $40 and $500.
It’s not that American banks provide better security than Australian banks, it’s simply that almost every Australian adult banks online and so the opportunities to defeat the banks second security step, the SMS text from the bank or the banking security Fob, are far easier.
The theft of cards, as well as their details, has been on the rise all over the world. A criminal willing to buy a purloined card from the European Union member must be willing to pay $40. For Asian cards, the price has gone up to $50 while in U.S, the price remains lower at between $7 and $30 depending on the card details on the offer.
Interestingly, the global charges for hacking services have drastically gone down to a mere $10 per hour. These services mainly include ‘denial of service’ and disruption of service. For an attack on a target to last for many hours, usually a whole day, the price has halved to between $30 and $55. A criminal can opt to hire the hacker for a week for between $200 and $555.
The other items on sale in the underground market include social security numbers, passports, and driver’s licenses. Illicit EU passports attract a price of a maximum $3,000 but not below $1,200. U.S passports are the priciest going for a whopping $10,000. Other services offered in this criminal world include hacking of personal and corporate emails: The prices are $125 and $500 respectively.
The prices featured are only those for the English speaking illicit markets and that of Russian for the third quarter of 2015. With the increase in the prices and Australia becoming a key interest area for the cybercriminals, it is paramount that adequate measures be taken to secure all online personal details.
