Threat Management

Dark web markets sell off victims’ account data for as little as a buck

Having your online account hacked is bad enough, but learning that your precious account details were sold for a little as $1 on the dark web adds insult to injury.

In a company blog post today, David Jacoby, senior security researcher and evangelist at Kaspersky Lab, reported finding some bargain-basement offerings after browsing the digital black market for stolen online identities. Among the items he spotted for sale were 10 random Steam keys for $10, a premium Spotify account for just $2, and a Netflix account for $4.

Customers buying in bulk could actually purchase 100 Steam accounts for merely $14.99.

"The most common way to steal this data is via phishing campaigns or by exploiting a web-related vulnerability such as an SQL injection vulnerability," wrote Jacoby. "The password dumps contain an email and password combination for the hacked services, but as we know most people reuse their passwords," so anyone purchasing stolen credentials could potentially gain access to these accounts as well.

Jacoby said that hacked account information from online banks, social media platforms, and digital consumer services is most popular type of data sold on the black market.

Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.