New Symantec report reveals booming underground economy

Security vendor Symantec has released a new report detailing an online underground economy that has matured into an efficient, global marketplace in which stolen goods and fraud-related services are regularly bought and sold, and where the estimated value of goods offered by individual traders is measured in millions of dollars...

Symantec’s Report on the Underground Economy is derived from data gathered by the company’s Security Technology and Response (STAR) organisation, from underground economy servers between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008.

The potential value of total advertised goods observed by Symantec was more than US$276 million for the reporting period. This value was determined using the advertised prices of the goods and services and measured how much advertisers would make if they liquidated their inventory.

Credit card information is the most advertised category of goods and services on the underground economy, accounting for 31 percent of the total. While stolen credit card numbers sell for as little as $0.10 to $25 per card, the average advertised stolen credit card limit observed by Symantec was more than $4,000.

Symantec has calculated that the potential worth of all credit cards advertised during the reporting period was $5.3 billion.

The popularity of credit card information is likely due to the many ways this information can be obtained and used for fraud; credit cards are easy to use for online shopping and it’s often difficult for merchants or credit providers to identify and address fraudulent transactions before fraudsters complete these transactions and receive their goods.

Credit card information is often sold to fraudsters in bulk, with discounts or free numbers provided with larger purchases.

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