There are certain things in life that are priceless, your Medicare number is not one of them. Not only is it cheap to attain a Medicare number online, but it is also easy! For as low as $5 AUD, you can buy a total stranger’s Medicare number on the dark web.
Identity theft services sold on the dark web are often divided into four different categories depending on the type of information you are looking for: PII, a.k.a. Personally Identifiable Information, stole financial information, forged documents and hacker services.
If you think buying someone’s Medicare number for $5 is a pretty good deal, wait until you see what else you can get for those five dollars. For that cost, hackers are generous and provide you with much more than that.
You can get a PII package that will include a victim’s full identity, including their full name, driver’s license number, passport number and, wait for it, even their email address. Pretty good, huh? For this cost it’s no wonder hackers aren’t exactly rich.
If you want to be a little naughtier, you can also obtain credit card details with a balance ranging from $1K to $5K for as little as $10. The cost can obviously change for this, according to a victim’s credit score. The higher the credit score, the higher the cost of the information.
Having access to a person’s credit score gives someone a great deal of liberty, as it makes it easier for cyber-criminals to commit fraud without the risk of financial institutions cutting them off.
According to ATLAS VPN, goods found on the dark web vary from Medicare numbers to passport templates along with physical passports being the most expensive of identity theft documents that can be found on the dark web.
Knowing how easily this information is at someone’s fingertips by just accessing the dark web is not only worrisome, but also outrageous. The ease of access shows you how easy it is for you to be one of the victims whose information ends up being for sale on the dark web for just a few mere dollars. It is situations such as this, the reason why you must protect yourself at all costs against cybersecurity threats.
Protecting Yourself
The seriousness of these threats shows you that a simple antivirus installed on your computer is simply not enough to protect you against (in fact it’s only 20% of the cybersecurity a business needs). Most of the victims of identity theft do not even realise that their identity has been compromised until it is too late.
Although there is no such thing as zero risk from cyber attacks, it is precisely that reason for which you need to prevent for future attacks and you should seek advice from a cybersecurity expert to get advice and protection for your personal data and that of your business and loved ones as well.
