And for most of us, the biggest threat is having our personal information bought and sold. Selling our credit card data, passwords, account numbers and personal info is big business. Hacked Facebook accounts offer three routes to profit for cybercriminals. First, they are an incredibly rich source of personal information that can be used to facilitate identity theft, helping criminals answer security questions for example.
The Significance Of This Data
However, as you can see by the tepid prices, only Uber-related accounts increased in value. So, investor uncertainty in stock and bond markets, for example, also showed up in the crypto markets. And Bitcoin being deposed as the currency of choice on the Dark Web shattered confidence in the BTC-based value of its offerings.
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It’s an ever-evolving ecosystem—constantly shifting, reinventing itself, and adapting. Stolen documents of this nature – intercepted in the mail, for example, or stolen and sold to criminals by corrupt officials – fetch very high prices. Genuine physical identity documents, such as passports and drivers licenses, are incredibly valuable for identity theft. Typically this means fraudulently opening lucrative lines of credit in the passport-holder’s name, which is then swiftly drained, leaving the unwitting victim with a huge debt. Log-ins for everyday services like Netflix and Spotify primarily offer a route into potential identity theft, since it remains so common for people to reuse their passwords. Widespread password re-use across multiple accounts means hackers only need one set of login details to run a credential stuffing attack 1 and instantly gain access to many more.
How Much Is Stolen Data Sold For On Darknet Markets?
Where possible, remove your personal information from any websites that don’t require it. If your social media accounts are no longer important to you, you should delete them. Old social media accounts or store accounts used once years ago don’t offer any value to you, but are useful attack vectors for hackers and other bad actors. The short, scary answer is that some of your personal data is almost certainly already for sale on the dark web. The first step is to find out which of your accounts have been stolen.
The effect will also be felt more widely due to reciprocal tariffs and the negative effect on the global economy and trade due to increased trade tensions and restrictions. Note that the outlook for this market is being affected by rapid changes in trade relations and tariffs globally. The report will be updated prior to delivery to reflect the latest status, including revised forecasts and quantified impact analysis.
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They ranged from $85 for a Blockchain.com account to $300 for a Crypto.com account to $1,170 for a Kraken account. Hacked and verified Wirex and N26 accounts commanded the highest prices — $2,300 and $2,650, respectively. While it’s impossible to say precisely how many people regularly access the Deep Web and the Dark Web, looking at the number of Tor users could help paint a clearer picture.
Phishing Attacks
DDoS attacks remain a huge problem for companies and institutions around the world, especially as their frequency went up by 314% between H1 of 2022 and H2 of 2023. This was the price of a hacked account on the peer-to-peer exchange LocalBitcoins, which has since shut down. Unsurprisingly, facts about the Dark Web show that accounts on the more popular exchanges had higher asking prices.
- If you’re using a browser like Tor and visiting .onion websites that aren’t accessible through regular search engines or browsers, you’re likely on the dark web.
- As Monero use grows in 2024, experts call for less emphasis on darknet markets and more examination of Monero’s wider applications to accurately represent this privacy coin’s full user base.
- It scans darknet marketplaces and hacker forums to alert you instantly if anything shows up.
- Additionally, Tor enables users to access darknet sites hosted on .onion domains, something most common browsers can’t do.
DDoS Attack Data
The high volume of listings for hacked credentials for Russian streaming services were limited to Russian markets, which explains the lower prices (60% less on average). Streaming was by far the largest category in our dataset, with 1,174 listings of accounts for sale across 150 services. Netflix was the most popular platform, accounting for almost 11% of all streaming listings and double the number of the next most popular services. Immediately change your passwords, enable two-factor authentication, and notify your bank or credit card provider if the leaked information includes your financial data. You should also consider freezing your credit to prevent identity theft. You can use dark web monitoring tools, such as NordVPN’s Dark Web Monitor, to check if your data has been leaked.
As in the previous 3 years, we conducted research into the supply and prices of various goods and services sold by cybercriminals on the dark web. In 2022 and Q dark web markets continued to bloom with a multitude of listings of various illegal goods and services. While stolen accounts across other categories saw year-over-year price drops, Deep Web facts reveal that crypto was up from 2022. That’s because digital currencies went stagnant between Q3 of 2022 and Q1 of 2023, resulting in less interest in buying crypto during this period.
Still Reliant On Postal Services
While Paypal accounts, PerfectMoney, and other services have become cheaper, verified Stripe accounts with payment gateways have become one of the most expensive offerings at $1200. Additionally, new payment processing services like Revolut ($1600), Switzerland online banking logins ($2200), and Payoneer verified accounts ($200) have entered the dark web marketplace. The following table shows the 20 most expensive account credentials we identified for sale on the darknet markets, ordered by average price. Only brands with more than one listing have been included to reduce the impact of anomalous pricing. Almost a quarter (23%) of all the VPN listings we identified across all 15 darknet markets were found on Kraken, with 62% of those for NordVPN. This was due to vendors offering numerous NordVPN accounts for specific locations in Russia.
Dark Web Intelligence Global Market Report 2025
Otherwise, our most sensitive information could be exposed and bought for just a fistful of dollars. It is particularly chilling how cheaply a complete identity can be purchased (less than 100 euros). This type of information, known as ‘fullz’, includes datasets such as name, address, social security number, date of birth, etc.
Empire, one of the few remaining top markets, is consistently battling login problems and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and users regularly express frustration because of these issues. If banking or financial information is also included, up to US$65 is charged. Our research show that payment and travel accounts continue to be the most lucrative in the darknet market trade of hacked credentials. While streaming accounts were cheap and plentiful, the opposite was true for the brands listed above. In terms of individual brands, NordVPN was by far the most popular with 19% of all listings on Russian darknet markets.
