'Guarantees' for stolen merchandise, as premium credit cards flood market.
While the Sony hack hogs media headlines and stolen credit card details are sold nearly everywhere, counterfeit documents and how-to-hack tutorials are some of the fastest growing sellers on online underground marketplaces, according to an annual study of prices published by Dell Secureworks on Monday.
A scan of a Social Security card along with a name and address costs about $250, for example, with supporting documents—such as a credit card statement or utility bill—costing another $100. A fake driver’s license lists between $100 and $150. In total, a would-be identity thief could get all the information they needed to access health services, obtain government assistance, or apply for financial credit for under $500.
Overall, illicit sites are now selling more types of identity documents than last year, when the researchers—Joe Stewart and David Shear of Dell Secureworks—conducted their first study. The increase is, in part, because proof of identity is required by more organizations and financial institutions, Shear said.
“We believe that this is definitely contributing to the growth of the counterfeit-documents business in the hacker markets,” David Shear, a network security analyst with Dell SecureWorks, said in an e-mail interview with Ars. “We believe that as the proof-of-identity requirements become more stringent, the market for these counterfeit documents will continue to grow, so in turn, the data contained in passports, Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, and utility bills will be sought after more.
