Sale of personal information – right down to verified healthinsurance data as well as Social Security numbers and bank accountlogins – is thriving, according to a new report from Atlanta- basedDell SecureWorks, which claims that a complete package, called a“kitz,” will fetch upwards of $1,200 in underground criminalbazaars.

That kit includes health insurance information but it alsoinvolves supporting ID that will let the buyer establish his or hercounterfeit identity.

Don Jackson, senior security researcher with the SecureWorks'Counter Threat Unit research team, said in an interview that pricesfor this kind of personal information has “really jumped” in thepast year.1

Buyers, he suggested, are people in urgent need of expensivemedical care, but these information packages would also facilitateaccount takeovers at credit unions and banks. Essentially allthat is needed for an account takeoveris included.

Jackson indicated that supply of healthcare specific informationis bountiful and the sources, he suggested, are everything fromdata stolen from doctors' offices to hacked records at insurancecompanies.

Probably the main deterrent to broader sale of the documents isthat the sale tends to occur in shadowy venues that would not beknown to the general public.

Sellers also prefer irreversible payment, often via wire, saidJackson, although he noted at least some request Bitcoin, thevirtual currency that is inherently anonymous.

“Our CTU researchers discover caches of stolen datafrequently, and we have found that the hackers will steal anythingthey think they can sell on the underground,” said Jackson in aprepared statement. “Health insurance credentials continue torise in value as we see the cost of health insurance and the costof medical services continue to rise.”