600k customer identities have been stolen in 2014 and according to government officials thousands of Britons data available for sale in the DarkWeb.
The digital identities of tens of thousands of Britons are available for sale on the darkweb, including data belonging to the government personnel. Many experts speculate that the volume of data represents only the tip of the iceberg.
According to the Financial Times, an unnamed “Whitehall security official” reported that personal information, including financial data, were available on the for around $30 on average.
The senior officials added that that data stolen from government databases include personal tax and social security data, information that could be acquired by paying around $75. These Digital identities have been stolen from a government database which compiles the data of departments like HM Revenue & Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions.
Experts from Symantec firm told the FT that details on over 600,000 customers were stolen from UK companies in 2014, and a significant portion is already available for sale in the criminal ecosystem.
Experts have no idea about the source of the stolen data, unfortunately not all the breaches were reported to privacy watchdog.
The UK Government is aware of the risks related to cybercrime, the officials confirmed that it had already allocated £860 million into improving cyber-security. The huge quantity of information that is fueling the black markets come from the numerous data breaches occurred in the last months.
“We are looking carefully at the level of regulation,” they said. “Every company board should be fully aware of the risk from cyber-attack, and be confident that the company has proper security in place.”
The revelations come a week after the clamorous data breach suffered by the TalkTalk firm, the UK Metropolitan Police announced to have arrested on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offenses a 15-Year-Old alleged involved in the attack.
(Security Affairs – identity theft, Darkweb)
