The data broke through for money – Newspaper Kommersant No. 10 (7455) dated 01/20/2023

In 2022, the cost of “breakthrough”, that is, obtaining citizens’ data through insiders in communication companies, banks and government agencies, increased by 22%. This is less than in previous years – over the past five years, the penetration market has increased by 7.5 times. The biggest increase in the price of the “breakthrough” service in telecom operators – by 60%. Despite the efforts of companies to stop internal incidents, the number of people involved in crimes is growing, which also affects the cost of data, experts explain.

The average cost of “breakthrough” services from insiders working in companies in various industries increased by 22% in 2022 compared to 2021, analysts at the DLBI data leak intelligence and monitoring service calculated. We are talking about obtaining, for example, information about transactions, property and the secrecy of citizens’ negotiations. At the same time, the cost growth rate has decreased compared to 2020-2021, when the “breakthrough” more than doubled in price in a year. In general, according to DLBI, the market has grown 7.5 times since 2017.

Different types of data rise in price unevenly. Thus, the cost of a bank “breakthrough” has not changed much and amounted to an average of 25.4 thousand rubles. per account statement, although in 2021 it increased by more than 2.5 times by 2020. The price of illegally obtained data from state systems did not change last year either.

On the other hand, the market for “mobile breakdown” (receiving details of calls and SMS from subscribers) showed rapid dynamics: its cost increased by an average of 60%, to 27 thousand rubles. per month of data. Obtaining information about subscribers of Beeline, MTS and Tele2 has risen in price by half or more, but about MegaFon customers has hardly changed. MTS became the leader – 40 thousand rubles, followed by Tele2 and MegaFon – 28 thousand and 25.5 thousand rubles. respectively, and VimpelCom remains the cheapest – 15 thousand rubles.

VimpelCom assured Kommersant that in order to prevent such incidents, they strengthened the control of employees’ access to client data, “including two-factor authentication, when clients confirm the provision of access to their data and critical operations for the operator’s employees.” MTS also claims that they are taking “strict organizational measures and using modern hardware and software to prevent unauthorized access to restricted information.”

In Tele2, the rise in price of the “breakthrough” is explained by the fact that in the operator’s system, the processes of identifying and suppressing illegal information leaks are automated and “incidents are practically impossible.” MegaFon declined to comment.

The number of announcements about “mobile penetration” in 2022 decreased by about 2-2.5 times depending on the sites, says Sergey Golovanov, chief expert at Kaspersky Lab. Such a drop, as well as an increase in the cost of services, “may be associated with the effective work of regulators, law enforcement agencies, as well as increased protection measures in the organizations themselves,” he believes.

In 2021 and earlier, “breaking through the numbers” of the phone and similar services cost several times cheaper, Evgeny Antipov, the founder of the Eye of God Telegram bot, confirms. In his opinion, the service itself began to lose value with the increase in leaks of various databases. Previously, DLBI experts reported a data leak of 75% of Russians into the network in 2022. “The attackers’ expectations for their earnings did not decrease, and in order to compensate for the outflow of customers, they began to raise prices,” Mr. Antipov believes, noting also that the number of intermediaries in obtaining information is growing, which affects the price.

It increases the price of a “breakthrough” and the risk for insiders, since there are already criminal cases with real penalties for breaking the law, notes Konstantin Stepanov, executive director of HFLabs. “Probably, in 2023 it will be more and more difficult for attackers to look for loopholes in companies to access information, respectively, there will be fewer such offers on specialized forums, and the cost will increase,” Sergey Golovanov concludes.

Tatyana Isakova