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.
Re:So... how much is it worth? (Score:2, Interesting)
anyone care to just give me the bottom line?
Sure: you're definitely lazy and likely obese.
You're welcome.
but right now nobody knows (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wait just a second (Score:2, Interesting)
I have an account set up just to troll scammers. I reply for all my Lottery Winnings, Inheritance, Money Transfer, etc. It's linked to all my fake banks accounts. I'm tempted to let them have temporary access to see what happens.. LOL. It has no connection to any RL account, but lots of links to security company accounts where they are holding several sets of Metal Trunk Boxes..