Hackers put up Innumerable Account Details from Social Networks for Sale

According to a research conducted by iDefense, the cyber-security intelligence division of VeriSign, the year 2009 saw an enormous increase in demand related to user accounts that had been scratched from social-networking websites. A large number of these accounts go up for sale on the international black market and also on forums, the agency observes, as per the news published by TechEYE.net on April 22, 2010.

The security watchdog, iDefense indicates that there's a rise in malicious operations on websites for social networking. Accordingly, it has found that hackers are selling over 1.5 Million account details on a single Internet forum named "Kirllos" as the personal data black market continues to expand.

According to Rick Howard, director of intelligence at iDefense, cyber-criminals have been digging at details from social networks since a while now. But, in doing that, they usually execute their attacks only inside the territory they operate from, he points out, according to the news published by ITPRO on April 22, 2010.

According to iDefense, during the sale of the accounts, criminals put up the rates on the basis of the number of friends/contacts present, with the potential victim using the social-networking website. These rates vary from $25/1,000 accounts having at the most 10 contacts to $45 for 10 contacts or more.

IDefense further outlines the different means through which online-crooks exploit social networks for reaping money. These are hijacking accounts and using them for money-transfer frauds as well as harvesting data and using it to open fake bank or other types of accounts that facilitate to acquire a passport, driving license, or any other important document.

Howard said that if any social network user has his account hijacked, then all information associated with that account may end up in illegal trade. This can result in increased malware and spam directed at e-mail accounts of corporations whose details may be present with the user, as per the news published by V3.co.uk on April 22, 2010.

Moreover according to Andrew Brandt, research analyst at Webroot Software, people still don't regard messages on Facebook just as suspiciously as they're likely to when they get instant messages or e-mails containing a dubious Web-link, according to the news published by EWeek.com on April 22, 2010.

Related article: Hackers Redirect Windows Live Search to Malicious Sites

» SPAMfighter News - 5/4/2010