What Does the “Free” in Free Food Really Mean? Hijacked accounts are one of the most common items available for purchase on online illicit markets. On our blog, we’ve discussed in the past the issue of bank credentials being put … Read More
Illicit markets insider
Do You Speak Fraudster?
Do You Speak Fraudster? To improve our tools and algorithms, part of our daily work at Flare Systems is to read advertisements for illicit goods and services. Our job is to understand who the threat actors are, who they are … Read More
What Passwords Do Fraudsters Use?
What Passwords Do Fraudsters Use? Five years ago, Avast published a blog post that analyzed a database of 2,000 passwords used by hackers. It found that hackers use very easy to crack passwords just like most people. In fact, their … Read More
Aftermath of the Takedown of a Major Carding Kingpin
Aftermath of the Takedown of a Major Carding Kingpin We explained in a previous blog where stolen data goes. Last week, Brian Krebs reported that the Russians had shut down a huge card fraud ring. The FSB (Russian Federal Police) … Read More
Where Does Stolen Data Go?
Where Does Stolen Data Go? The recent indictment of 4 Chinese nationals gives us an opportunity to talk about a topic that touches all the companies that have had the personal or account information they protect stolen: Where does stolen … Read More
The Truth Behind Joker’s Stash / Wawa Announcement
The Truth Behind Joker’s Stash / Wawa Announcement Over the past two weeks, all the leading news agency have reported that the millions of credit cards stolen at Wawa’s stores in the United States in 2019 have been put on … Read More
Trying Too Hard to Attract Buyers Can Backfire
Trying Too Hard to Attract Buyers Can Backfire Malicious actors face a difficult task in online illicit markets. How can they convince others that they are offering a high quality service (ex. selling stolen credit card numbers) without exposing themselves … Read More
46M Cracked Passwords – Are People Getting Better at Securing Their Accounts?
46M Cracked Passwords – Are People Getting Better at Securing Their Accounts? A little over a year ago, malicious actors hacked the MyFitnessPal service. With 143 million users, this was one of the largest hack of credentials ever reported. Now, … Read More
The Changing Costs of Cybercrime
The Changing Costs of Cybercrime The Workshop on the Economics of Information Security generates year after year some of the best research on information security. This year is no different with the publication of a new paper on the costs … Read More
Extracting Intelligence From Criminal Complaints
Extracting Intelligence From Criminal Complaints On May 3rd, law enforcement agencies announced that they had seized the servers that hosted the Wall Street darknet illicit market. They also arrested the market’s administrators. A copy of criminal complaint is now published … Read More