Hacker 'selling 1.5 million stolen Facebook users' login details on the black market'



A hacker has put 1.5million stolen Facebook accounts up for sale on the black market, an internet security firm has claimed.



Researchers at VeriSign’s iDefense Labs said they had found the stolen or bogus accounts on a Russian forum called Carder.su.

A hacker called 'kirllos' was offering log-in data of thousands of Facebook users at bargain basement prices.



For sale: Security firm VeriSign said they tracked one hacker who was offering 1.5million Facebook account details

Bundles of 1,000 accounts with 10 or fewer friends were on sale for just $25 while accounts with more than 10 friends could be bought for $45.

Rick Howard director of iDefense, said the case points to a boom in the illegal trading of social networking accounts from Eastern Europe to the U.S.

Criminals typically steal data with 'phishing' techniques that trick users into giving out their passwords, or with malware that logs computer keystrokes.



The accounts can then be hijacked to send spam and malicious programs. Personal information including birth dates, addresses and phone numbers can be used to commit identity fraud.

However, Facebook has poured scorn on the latest claims, saying 'kirllos' was known to investigators for making wild claims.

Company spokesman Barry Schnitt said Facebook had tried to buy details from kirllos during its own investigation but that, 'the hacker was unable to produce anything for our buyer.'

He pointedly told The New York Times: 'We would expect iDefense or anyone presenting themselves as a security expert to do this kind of verification (or any verification) rather than just reading a forum post and accepting the claims as fact and publicising them.'

VeriSign said that it did not purchase any of the accounts as part of its study because that would violate its corporate policy.

Facebook has a security team that monitors the social networking site for suspicious activity, such as many friends requests in a short period of time and high rates of friend requests that are ignored.



Users who fear their account has been hacked can also report the matter through the Help Centre.

