Web Criminals Selling GBs Of Personal Data Online

Posted by marshc01
May 6, 2008

Internet criminals are moving on from infecting Computers with tools to take data for themselves and opening up online crime rings where they sell various amounts of data for a fixed price. The data could contain GB’s of personal information about Internet users which can then be used as the buyer wishes. These latest claims are very worrying for the safety and security of all Internet users and experts have stated that a united anti-cyber crime effort will be need to scale the threat of these online criminals.

The details have emerged after a security firm Finjan revealed they had dealt with thousands of these online services. The experts at the security conference also revealed that Internet fraud was sky rocketing and made it clear they feel the police need to do more to stop this web crime before it becomes uncontrollable.

The three day security conference revealed that the tactic most popular at the moment is for web criminals to buy personal and sensitive data from third parties. This method replaces them running crimware servers and tools that will strip websites of data and gain personal information this away. It is thought that the websites offer medial histories, orders from companies placed, corporate emails and even pension details. The services can not only affect the average online users but also businesses. “All this was found on one hacker’s server and we believe it was information that was collected to be sold online…It is even being marketed on certain forums - ‘We are selling this type of data and here is our price list’, said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, who acts as achief technology officer at Finjan.

Credit card details are coming up as cheap and can be aquired for just a few $, the biggest revenue comes from logfiles from big companies which go for up to $300. Recently released banking industry figures have shown UK card losses from phone, internet or mail order crime totalled $290.5m in 2007.

The problem lies in how to stop the problem. Whilst Internet users can use spyware blockers and other tools to try and stay safe on the Internet it seems that the cyber criminals are always finding new ways of getting details and then passing them on for profit. You should ensure that you computer is safe and that you have sufficient Internet software installed to try and reduce the threat of you’re computer being probed for data, always try to stick to safer Internet websites and be careful what you click on.

Guide to Identity Theft explores the issue of identity theft and crime so that you can find out more information about the risks to your identity and the effect it has on your life. For more information please visit http://www.guide-to-identity-theft.com/.

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