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Sean Camara
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EXCLUSIVE: More than 400,000 Australian payment card details are being sold off online, according to a new report
EXCLUSIVE: More than 400,000 Australian payment card details are being sold off online, according to a new report
The rise of tap-and-go payments has caused Australians to shift their preferred payment methods from cash to card transactions.
However, as more and more people cope with the developments in technology, risks come along with it.
A recent report has revealed that details of more than 400,000 Australian payment cards were being sold on the dark web.
NordVPN, a virtual private network (VPN) service provider which aims to provide protection to your network connection when using public networks, published the report, informing the public of cybersecurity risks.
NordVPN revealed that more than 400,000 Australian payment card details are being sold on the dark web. Credit: Getty Images.
The company's cybersecurity researchers have found out that more than 4.47 million payment cards owned by individuals across 140 countries were being sold off on the internet.
Australia was the second most affected country with 419,806 cards owned by Aussies uncovered. The United States, on the other hand, was the most affected with 1,561,739 cards owned by Americans being sold off.
It was said that the price range for an Australian card costs somewhere between $1.40 to $26.56, with an average price of $21.20 — among the cheapest on the dark web as cards from Hong Kong and the Philippines could cap off at an average of $28.15.
About 79.54 per cent of the Australian cards uncovered were debit cards — which tend to be less protected — while 20.46 per cent were credit cards.
Additionally, more than half of all the discovered payment cards from Australia were Visa (218,130), then Mastercard (192,466) followed by American Express (9,148).
NordVPN said that in order to calculate a country's risk index or the chances that a person's card would end up on the dark web, they compared the card data with population statistics, number of cards in circulation, and the proportion of non-refundable cards.
With that being said, it was revealed that Australia was the second most vulnerable country with a risk index score of 0.85, just shy of the maximum possible risk score of one.
The report also revealed that Hong Kong is the most vulnerable, while the Netherlands is the least vulnerable.
NordVPN Chief Technology Officer Marijus Briedis said: “Since 2014, we have been seeing a constant growth in payment card fraud around the world."
Briedis said that the company conducted the research to find out the reason why the underground black market is booming, divulging that their research has led them to the answer that "hackers can easily make a lot of money".
“Even if a card costs only U$10 on average, a hacker can make $40 million by selling a single database, like the one that we analysed,” he said.
How did they get there?
Briedis said that although database breaches are the more obvious answer to how a person’s payment card details are obtained, an increasing amount of data retrieval is done through “brute force”.
“Brute-forcing is a bit like guessing. Think of a computer trying to guess your password. First, it tries 000000, then 000001, then 000002, and so on until it gets it right,” the cybersecurity expert said.
“Being a computer, it can make thousands of guesses a second. After all, criminals don’t target specific individuals or specific cards."
“It’s all about guessing any viable card details that work to sell.”
NordVPN Chief Technology Officer Marijus Briedis said that more hackers have been ‘brute-forcing’ the retrieval of payment card details from databases. Credit: NordVPN.
What to do?
Abstaining from card use could probably be the best solution to this threat, but as more and more payments (and savings programs) are being done through online transactions, the best protection is staying vigilant.
Briedis advised: “Review your monthly statement for suspicious activity and respond quickly and seriously to any notice from your bank that your card may have been used in an unauthorized manner.”
“Another recommendation is to have a separate bank account for different purposes and only keep small amounts of money on the one your payment cards are connected to."
“Some banks also offer temporary virtual cards you can use if you don’t feel safe while shopping online.”
It was also suggested that creating stronger password systems and using Multi-Factor Authentication (such as a device, texted code, fingerprint or another security measure) and fraud detection systems can improve the security of your payment cards.
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