How Much Is Your Gmail Account Worth To Crooks? 80
tsu doh nimh writes "If you use Gmail and have ever wondered how much your account might be worth to cyber thieves, have a look at Cloudsweeper, a new OAuth service launching this week that tries to price the value of your Gmail address based on the number of retail accounts you have tied to it and the current resale value of those accounts in the underground. From KrebsOnSecurity: 'The brainchild of researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Cloudsweeperâ(TM)s account theft audit tool scans your inbox and presents a breakdown of how many accounts connected to that address an attacker could seize if he gained access to your Gmail. Cloudsweeper then tries to put an aggregate price tag on your inbox, a figure thatâ(TM)s computed by totaling the resale value of other account credentials that crooks can steal if they hijack your email.'"
A recent report from Kaspersky (PDF) also highlighted the trend toward phishing attepts targeting Facebook, Google, and Yahoo accounts alongside bank accounts.
Wait just a second (Score:5, Insightful)
Great Idea!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Now just let me hand over the keys to all my private mail to someone who will quickly be able to deduce how much it is worth.... /sarcasm>
Zero (Score:2, Insightful)
My Gmail account is not worth anything. Mainly because I never tied it to anything else, and I forgot the password years ago. Whoops. I don't like the Gmail interface, let alone the tied to Google aspect.
But if you could get a hold of my main email account... Actually, I still have no (or very few) other accounts tied to it. That's 'cause I give every service and website a different email address (slashdot.org.2013.06.26@example.org). So far I haven't discovered anyone specifically having sold or lost my email address, but I'm sure it's a matter of time.
What's the specifying Gmail for again? This is applicable to any email account isn't it?
Re:So... how much is it worth? (Score:4, Insightful)
please let us have access to all your email and search through it to tel you how much a random person would like to have access to all your email and search through it...
Thats kind of crazy to me. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why does amazon ( a serious competitor for Google Play) take it upon themselves to send an email showing the complete details of your transaction. Which Google can then scan and learn about Amazons customers and attempt to drive them to Google Play. It seems like all the web vendors want to give all their customer information to Google. Im sure Google appreciates the efforts on their behalf.
There should be very little detail in these transaction confirmations. And they should be optional. Or maybe SMS should be an option. But to give your competitor the names of your competition and what they like to purchase is just plain crazy to me.
Re:Thats kind of crazy to me. (Score:3, Insightful)
Nobody's forcing you to use gmail. Get a domain and an email only account with any web host and for about $15/month you can have mailboxes that are very private, and especially ad-free.
It's called a "receipt" (Score:4, Insightful)
So, what exactly is Amazon supposed to do? Most people LIKE getting their transaction details sent to them; it's called a "receipt", and it serves as proof you bought whatever it is you think you bought, should this ever be up for dispute. Most people expect to receive a receipt for every electronic transaction, even if it isn't strictly necessary.
And the same thing could be said about any commercial e-mail service... nothing stops Mom-n-Pop ISP from mining your e-mail for data (or selling mining access to somebody who can.)
In any case, Amazon doesn't seem to be too bothered by the prospect...
If you don't trust GMail e-mail scanning, get your address elsewhere.