You know what’s better than 140 characters? 140 BILLION characters! I’m not sure where I was going with that, but apparently your Twitter account is worth as much as a stolen credit card? Don’t make that face at me, it’s true. Via Juniper:
What was surprising is that information that traditionally fetched a high price on the black market is decreasing in value, making way for new, high-priced items. According to the study, Twitter accounts can cost more to purchase than a stolen credit card because an individual’s account credentials potentially have a greater yield.
Traditionally, credit card information was the currency of the black market. It demanded a high price, ranging from $20-$40 on average. However, high-profile breaches have created a recent influx of available credit card data online. As a result the scarcity and value of the stolen information is decreasing. During a large credit card breach, the market becomes flooded with data causing prices to drop from $20 per record to $0.75 per record in a short amount of time.
After reading that, I just pictured a guy in a gross alley opening his trenchcoat and saying something like, “Yo, I got @SorenJeff for $200.” And then someone saying, “Sorensen ain’t worth not $200, brah.” But, this is apparently a real thing that I never imagined would be a real thing. People selling other peoples Twitter accounts? Tell me why this is better than having someone’s credit card?
Social media and other credentials include usernames and passwords, which can often be used as an entry point to launch attacks on that person’s accounts on a number of other sites. Given the number of people that tend to use the same username and passwords, hacking one account can often yield other valuable information such as online banking or e-commerce accounts. By stealing Joe Smith’s account information on one site, the criminal might gain access to his information on 10 sites.
An individual’s stolen account information can be used to spear-phish the accounts of friends, family and co-workers for additional financial gain.
Ah, yes, That makes perfect sense. People can’t even remember phone numbers anymore, so remembering more than one password is difficult for many people. Twitter is the Marijuana gateway drug to people stealing all of your money. Use different passwords, people! If your password is “password,” you might as well just put throw your wallet or purse into a downtown Baltimore street.