Cybercriminals obtain these records by compromising the systems of hospitals or academic institutions
According to cybersecurity experts from the
International Institute of Cyber Security, several groups of cybercriminals are
focused on stealing personal records of thousands of children, information
stored by schools or children medical attention institutions, for the purpose
of selling them in some market in the dark web.
The information is reported to include children
full names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers and birth
dates.
The reports also emphasize that cybersecurity researchers found that hackers seek more
personal information from children born between the years 2000 and 2010.
As for the value of this information in the
dark web forums, it can be depending on the content. By individual records, a
hacker can get up to $10 USD, while the larger volumes of information reach
numbers of between $490 to $800 USD, depending on the forum in which these
records are offered.
Emily Wilson, a cybersecurity specialist, has
been warning multiple companies and organizations about this malicious activity
for a while. However, most of the stolen records are already or have been
available in a number of very popular dark web forums. In many of these
markets, information is identified with the tag ‘USA KIDS FULLZ’.
“It is reasonable to think that cybercriminals
gain access to these data through some point of access to the computer
infrastructure of hospitals or government systems. In the case of the file
identified as ‘USA KIDS FULLZ ‘, the seller claims that the records have been
extracted from a hospital network,” said the specialist.
Wilson believes there is an enormous
probability that stolen information will be used as part of a credit scam
scheme. “Children affected by this data breach should be between 8 and 18 years
of age, they may not be involved in any financial activity. Hackers take
advantage of this to use their data and open bank accounts to their name”, she
added.
In further details on this research, hackers
post their ads on dark web forums promoting them as “information belonging to
children of good families, who can provide and pay expensive medical services”.
According to specialists in cybersecurity, the
trade in personal data of minors could become a serious problem in the future.
As a child grows, their data begins to circulate more broadly, either on the
Internet or in government services, so they are increasingly vulnerable to some
form of fraud.
