Criminal hackers buying and selling hacked accounts

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February 5th, 2010 - Posted by Robert Siciliano

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger.

Malicious software, designed to gather usernames and passwords, has been a boon to the criminal hacking community. Spyware, as it's commonly known, records almost everything a user does on their PC. The most damaging spyware records all electronic communications via a web browser. That's where the most damage can be done and the money is made.

A recent study, by Internet security software firm Kaspersky, shows there are as many as 70,000 variations of these keystroke sniffing programs, which is double what was discovered in 2008. Criminals have become proficient at hacking databases containing millions of credit card numbers but now have such a glut of data, that they have to work hard to turn it into actual cash. IT security professionals have also become better at discovering a breach and those same credit card numbers become invalid soon after the discovery is made.

Cyber hackers have discovered great profits by stealing a user's online banking information. Fully accessing an individual or business bank account allows the criminal hacker more time to transfer funds and write checks to themselves. Even something as seemingly innocuous as a social networking site can reap huge rewards for the criminal hacker; scraping user names and passwords for Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites allows the hacker to spread more spyware to those in a trusted circle and gives the attacker an opportunity reach out to the friends or followers of the victims to scam money in many other ways.

These same hackers may also be enjoying access to a person's email account which may have a trove of data leading to even more usernames and passwords, either contained in an attachment or a cloud-based document. Having access to a hacked email account also allows the criminal hacker to reset of many of the victim's passwords on other accounts as well.

Here are ways you can protect your identity:

1) Invest in Internet security software and keep it auto-updated.

2) Go to my website and get my FREE ebook on how to protect yourself from the bad guy.

3) Invest in identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discussing hacked Hotmail accounts on Fox News.

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of two books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Intelius to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.