Your identity is worth $21 on the Net
All of your personal banking and credit card information, your birthdate and your social security data are worth about $21 on the Internet, according to a study released today. And much of that data may have been stolen from government offices, says the report by computer security firm Symantec Corp. Symantec says thousands of Internet chatrooms and websites openly sell credit card and personal information for the purpose of identity theft -- and are doing plenty of business.
Many of the sites can be found using the Internet Relay Chat program that is similar to MSN Messenger or AOL's Instant Messenger software. Simply search for "#cc" and hundreds of websites will pop up. "I have valid CC (credit card) and bank loggins (sic)," bragged one person asking to be contacted by interested parties. "Anyone interested in buying operative USA, UK & Canada CC with billing info and CVV (a credit card security number): harvesting--tomyahoo.ca.
