Hacking ring responsible stealing over 160 Million credit cards charged

A global credit card hacking ring consisting of four Russians and an Ukrainian, have been indited in the US with stealing and selling over 160 million credit and debit cards. That's a vast number of card numbers, which led to millions in fraud. Two of four were identified as sophisticated hackers by the US prosecutors, stating they specialised in the hacking of multinational corporations, financial institutions and payment processors, including NASDAQ, Citibank and PNC Bank.

According to the indictment, US credit card numbers sold for about $10 each; Canadian numbers were $15 and better-encrypted European ones $50. Interesting that the more secure European cards fetch 5 times the amount of US cards.

This will be an interesting court case to watch as it unfolds, especially as more comes out about the hacking techniques used, and perhaps the poor security which these guys took advantage of.