13 January 2010 Company Announcements

 

SentryBay and Lucid Intelligence combat re-sale of 60 million stolen identities

Security firm SentryBay has joined forces with identity theft database provider Lucid Intelligence to tackle identity and data theft. The firms say that they have research that shows over 4,000 web sites ‘leaking' personal information into the public domain whilst Lucid reports it has seen a 237% annual increase in such data being captured by its records.

Lucid will supply data to underpin SentryBay's Active Fraud Monitoring Service for financial institutions and enterprises.  This is supposed to alert customers in real-time if data relating to their staff or customers has been traded on the black market

In addition Lucid will provide information on those websites where personal data that has been entered by users finds its way into the public domain, either by having been hacked or commercially sold.  SentryBay's PhishLock software will then provide a live link to warn users when they visit these sites. SentryBay and Lucid will also target customers together and resell each others' products and services.

Colin Holder, founder and director of Lucid Intelligence explains: "In the past year Lucid has seen a massive increase in the numbers of personal data being purchased on the internet by criminal gangs. At the end of 2008 we held 58 million occasions of personal data being sold on - by the beginning of December 2009 the figure stood at 138,000,000.  This reflects approximately 60,000,000 individuals as many are either phished or have their data sold and purchased more than once.

"Most worryingly, we have already identified a further upsurge in data purchases by the criminal gangs since the last count at the beginning of December. By partnering with SentryBay we hope to provide not only a technological solution to stop these details getting into the wrong hands but also to raise awareness that such a sophisticated level of threat now exists."

Marcus Whittington, COO, SentryBay added:  "Criminals are making use of over 4,000 websites that leak personal information out into the public domain.  This data is then developed and sold on, creating a black market supply chain in stolen identities that threatens businesses and individuals alike.

"Fraud has undergone a rapid evolution in 2009 as criminals have moved from "card not present" fraud to "card not necessary" fraud.  Personal data has become the basis for stealing or creating false identities that can then be used to set up bank accounts, credit cards and loans.  With such a potentially high value "end game" criminals are becoming more patient and persistent so breaking this supply chain early is critical before enough data is amassed to do serious damage.

"SentryBay software already secures data as it is entered.  By partnering with Lucid Intelligence, we can proactively extend that protection throughout its use.  Lucid provides the next key step in the process.  If any data has been stolen - from any source - then companies and individuals can be alerted to prevent corporate and identity-based fraud."