New research published by the Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) uncovers an underground market for stolen and phony email credentials from hundreds of large universities in the United States.
Experts at DCA searched the Dark Web and came across the stolen, and fake, credentials that were on sale for prices that ranged between $3.50 and $10, according to a Dark Reading report.
The nonprofit enlisted the help of research firm ID Agent to discover the 13,930176 credentials from the 300 largest university in the U.S., including the University of Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, and the University of Minnesota. The email credentials are those of students, faculty, staff, and university alumni.
The research cannot legally confirm how many of the stolen passwords are valid. While only large universities were included in the research, smaller, high-profile institutions were not.
