Prices for stolen information plummet

The black-market price for stolen credit and debit card details has dropped to as little as $1.50, according to a newspaper investigation.

In an investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald, it was found that that almost anyone on the internet can buy stolen payment card details for as little as $1.50 (for Australian details), and $2.50 American and English cardholder information.

For credit card accounts in Britain and the United States, the cybercriminal salesmen claim to be able to bypass some of the latest anti-fraud protection, including Verified by Visa. And free samples of the stolen data are available, although key information is kept hidden to preserve its resale value.

The hackers also offer a surprising level of detail about their victims, such as a customer's bank account number, mother's maiden name, Social Security number, date of birth, driver's license number, as well as answers to security questions.

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer with Finjan, said: “Our research team spotted this not inconsiderable trade in stolen payment card data back in the late spring...At that time, however, the going rate was around $15 a pop, so the rate has clearly fallen, perhaps because of the glut of this kind of data being sold on the internet.”