The Weekly Breach Breakdown Podcast by ITRC - Supply & Demand for Your Data - S3E19

Show Transcript

Supply & Demand for Your Data

Welcome to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s (ITRC) Weekly Breach Breakdown for July 22, 2022.  Each week, we look at the most recent events and trends related to data security and privacy. This week, we look at the economics of stealing and selling identities and the drop in light and dark web market prices. If you will – the “Supply & Demand for Your Data.” 

Identity Criminals & Their Business Operations

Long-time followers know we talk a lot about how sophisticated the illegal identity marketplaces have become. The criminal groups that steal, sell or share personal information have evolved from the Hollywood stereotypes of kids in hoodies sitting in dark rooms – often their parents’ basement – eating Flaming Hot Cheetos and drinking Code Red while hunched over a keyboard.

The reality is very different. Today’s identity criminals are just as often business savvy, well organized and have business models that mirror legitimate businesses. They may be ethically challenged, but they are keen observers of human behaviors and masters at tricking us out of our own information, along with using technology to separate us from our identities.

These groups are diversified, meaning some specialize in one link in the identity crime value chain. One may sell the software tool needed to breach a password or extract information from a database, while another set of thieves will actually execute the attack. Identity criminals can hire “Ransomware as a Service” or “DDoS as a Service” just as easily as you and I can buy “Software as a Service” tools from Microsoft or Google.

All of these items, whether it’s your stolen credit card or a fake driver’s license, come at a cost that is not immune to the Laws of Economics. Too much supply and not enough demand means prices go down. That’s exactly what we’re seeing in the illicit identity marketplaces right now – the light and dark web market prices decline.

New Report Shows Decrease in Light and Dark Web Market Prices

A European research group, Privacy Affairs, published a compilation of prices from the major markets where identities are sold and shared. Generally speaking, there is so much personal data floating around the dark and light webs that prices for most stolen personal information are down compared to 2021. For example:

Decrease in Cryptocurrency Account Prices

One area that has dropped dramatically in the light and dark web market prices decline, not because of supply, is the price of access to stolen cryptocurrency accounts. What cost more than $800 last year costs only $250 today. Chaos in the cryptocurrency markets is driving down demand, and prices are following. Once the favorite of ransomware operators, cryptocurrencies are currently out of favor with identity criminals.

Increase in Driver’s License Prices

There is one area where we see an increase in prices for stolen personal information – driver’s licenses. The average cost of a fake driver’s license is up $50 – to $150 per license – in 2022. A high-quality picture of a person holding a driver’s license is up $20 to $120 as more organizations rely on scans and actual driver’s licenses to verify identities.

Social Security Numbers Are Free

What you won’t see in the updated price list for the first time is a line item for Social Security numbers (SSNs). SSNs are now largely free as part of a BOGO sale. I told you these guys run like real companies today.

Contact the ITRC

If you want to learn more about the light and dark web market prices or how to keep your personal or business information from ending up for sale in the identity market, visit our website at www.idtheftcenter.org. You can also speak with an expert advisor on the phone (888.400.5530), chat live on the web, or exchange emails during our normal business hours (Monday-Friday, 6 a.m.-5 p.m. PST). 

To learn more about data breach trends in the first half of this year, download our full H1 2022 Data Breach Analysis from our website at www.idtheftcenter.org/publications.

Be sure to join us next week for a special edition of our sister podcast, The Fraudian Slip, when we explore the connection between identity theft and tax fraud. We will be back in two weeks with another episode of the Weekly Breach Breakdown.