of HENRIK DION in cape town
CAPE TOWN – HACKERS have reportedly stolen and sold online identities of around 48,000 South Africans on bot markets.
This, while the most advanced economy on the continent fights against the increase in cybercrime.
At least 5 million people have been affected worldwide.
They are selling webcam snapshots, screenshots, updated logins, cookies and fingerprints.
Stolen identities are sold on bot markets for R102 (US$5.93) on average.
This is according to research by cybersecurity company NordVPN, which investigated three major bot markets.
In this case, bot refers to data-harvesting malware.
Bot marketplaces are online marketplaces that hackers use to sell data they have stolen from their victims’ devices with bot malware.
Marijus Briedis, NordVPN’s CTO, said that bot marketplaces are different from other dark web marketplaces in that they can obtain large amounts of data about a person in one place.
“And after the bot is sold, they guarantee the buyer that the victim’s information will be updated whenever the bot infects their device,” Briedis explained.
“A simple password is no longer worth money to criminals, when they can buy one-click logins, cookies and fingerprints for just R102,” the official said.
Meanwhile, aggregated data from Surfshark Antivirus shows a notable 17 percent increase in cyberthreats in South Africa in the week leading up to the recent Black Friday.
South Africa has a threat rate of 13, which is 22 percent lower than the global average.
“The holiday shopping season that begins with Black Friday is not only beneficial for retailers, but also for cybercriminals,” said Nedas Kazlauskas, Antivirus Product Owner at Surfshark.
“People looking for gifts and deals online during the deep discount period are more likely to click on suspicious links, download malicious files and infect their devices,” Kazlauskas added.
– CAJ News
