Alleged IndiHome Data Breach: Price of Leaked Email Database on the Dark Web

A suspected personal data breach has affected customers of IndiHome, a service provided by PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. The Ministry of Communication and Informatics has intervened to investigate the issue of 26 million search histories, along with the names and National Identity Numbers (NIKs) of IndiHome customers, being leaked and freely shared on the dark web.

According to data from the Dark Web Price Index 2021 by Privacy Affairs, cybercriminals generate significant profits from hacked personal data. The dark web offers relatively low prices for databases of email addresses obtained through data breaches in 2022.

The average selling price for a database containing 10 million US email addresses was US$120, according to data collected between February 2021 and June 2022 by the media company Privacy Affairs.

Furthermore, the average price for a database with 600,000 New Zealand email addresses was US$110, and for 2.4 million Canadian email addresses, it was US$100.

Privacy Affairs states that these databases are inexpensive due to their easy accessibility and low accuracy. Most leaked email databases are aggregations of other breaches.

Privacy Affairs also reports that the data market on the dark web is growing in both volume and product variety.