Cybercrime is just the other side of the digital age coin and is at least as vibrant as the legit side. Like any price in free markets economies, prices for basic dark goods in the cybercrime economy such as stolen personal data, hacked accounts, or payment card information not only reflect the supply and demand situation but also provide insight into cybercrime activities. The development of the price index shows which cybercrime activities are on an upward trend. Criminals are businesspeople, after all, and they want to maximize their return on investment.
The Dark Web Price Index on Privacy Affairs reveals current average prices for a list of dark goods to be used in cybercrime ventures. For the establishment of the index, dark scan Privacy Affairs scanned dark web marketplaces, forums, and websites, to calculate the average prices for a range of specific products.
The average dark web price for a cloned Mastercard with PIN is shown with $15, a stolen PayPal account with a minimum balance of $100 you need to pay an average price of $198.56, and a forged US driving license with average quality is available for $70. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is available from $10 per hour.
According to an interesting article by Marc Wilcek on Darkreading, these rates for dark goods expose the move away from ransomware and toward DDoS attacks that attempt to extort money or other favors from their targets. Ransomware is old school. DDoS attacks are the weapon of choice for online extortion. Perpetrators do not need deep pockets to attack websites. DDoS-for-hire services cost just $10 per hour or $60 for 24 hours because the sellers even offer volume discounts. Isn’t our dawning cybersociety a cozy world?
