Hacked Canadian payment cards cost around $6 on the underground web, half the global average, according to a recent study by NordVPN. The tighter regulation of Canadian financial institutions, which bears the responsibility for the illegal use of lost or stolen cards, would explain why these are cheap.
Cybersecurity firm NordVPN analyzed information from four million credit and debit cards found on the underground web, including 46,000 Canadian cards. Observation: the average price of a Canadian payment card would be $6.30 there, according to this study published on Tuesday.
Their price actually fluctuates between $1 and $18. Just over 9,000 cards were sold at $7.50, according to information from NordVPN.
The value of Canadian cards is in fact below the bar of the world average, which is more or less around $12. Tighter Canadian regulations would partly explain the fact that these are less expensive on the black market, says Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at NordVPN.
When a lost or stolen payment card is used illegally in Canada, the responsibility lies with the banks: “That’s why many Canadian banks have implemented additional security measures to protect their customers. In fact, payment card fraud in Canada has decreased since 2015.”
Over the years, this regulation would have pushed institutions to use tools to detect fraud, such as harder-to-find passwords and authentication based on several elements relating to its user.
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